Method and apparatus for group filtered reports

ABSTRACT

Systems and corresponding methods are provided that, in at least one embodiment, includes the act or acts of receiving a plurality of first representations; receiving a second representation of a first user; determining at least one group to which the first user belongs; determining at least one set of members of the at least one group; and filtering the plurality of first representations based, at least in part, on the at least one set of members. Each first representation represents a respective report

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In thedrawings, each identical or similar component that is illustrated invarious figures is represented by a like numeral. For purposes ofclarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing. In thedrawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a computer system architecture that may be used toperform one or more acts in accordance with some embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a process that may be performed in accordance withsome embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 3A-3C illustrate a set of database tables that may be used inaccordance with some embodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a process for filtering representations of reportsthat may be performed in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Embodiments

Systems and corresponding methods are provided that, in at least oneembodiment, includes the act or acts of receiving a plurality of firstrepresentations; receiving a second representation of a first user;determining at least one group to which the first user belongs;determining at least one set of members of the at least one group; andfiltering the plurality of first representations based, at least inpart, on the at least one set of members. Each first representationrepresents a respective report.

In one embodiment, each of the plurality of first representationsfurther represents a respective originator of the report represented bythe respective first representation. The filtering the plurality offirst representations may include excluding from the plurality of firstrepresentations at least one first representation that represents areport that was not originated by at least one member of the at leastone set of members. The filtering the plurality of first representationsalso may include excluding from the plurality of first representationsat least one first representation that represents a negative report thatwas originated by at least one member of the at least one set ofmembers.

In another embodiment, each of the plurality of first representationsfurther represents at least one of a target and a target type andfiltering includes excluding from the plurality of first representationsat least one first representation that represents at least one of anundesired target and an undesired target type.

In yet another embodiment, at least one report represented by at leastone first representation of the plurality of first representationsincludes at least one report on a service of a service provider. Theservice may include a delivery service.

Still another embodiment has at least one report represented by at leastone first representation of the plurality of first representationsincludes at least one report on a product of a merchant.

In another embodiment, the at least one group includes a social networkof the first user and the set of members includes the first user and atleast one other member of the social network. The first user may includea customer of at least one of a merchant and a service provider. Thefirst user also may include at least one of a merchant and a serviceprovider.

In yet another embodiment, at least one member of the at least one groupincludes a reporter chosen by the first user. Still another embodimenthas at least one group that includes at least one member having at leastone desired characteristic. The at least one desired characteristic mayinclude at least one of a profession, membership in an organization, anda geographic area.

In another embodiment, the system and methods further provide that, inat least one embodiment, includes the act or acts of transmitting atleast one third representation of the filtered plurality of firstrepresentations.

In yet another embodiment, the system and methods further provide that,in at least one embodiment, includes the act or acts of presenting thefiltered plurality of first representations to the first user. The actof presenting may include displaying the filtered plurality of firstrepresentations through a video display.

In an embodiment, the at least one second representation may include atleast one of a name, an email address, a login name, a mailing address,a telephone number, and a user identifier.

In another embodiment, the system and methods further provide that, inat least one embodiment, includes the act or acts of making at least onerecommendation to the first user based, at least in part, on thefiltered plurality of first representations.

In another embodiment, the system and methods further provide that, inat least one embodiment, includes the act or acts of choosing at leastone of a chosen product of a merchant and a chosen service of a serviceprovider based, at least in part, on the filtered plurality of firstrepresentations.

In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a machine readable mediumhaving stored thereon a plurality of machine instructions forcontrolling at least one computer system to perform a method providesthat, in at least one embodiment, includes the act or acts of receivinga plurality of first representations; receiving a second representationof a first user; determining at least one group to which the first userbelongs; determining at least one set of members of the at least onegroup; and filtering the plurality of first representations based, atleast in part, on the at least one set of members. Each firstrepresentation represents a respective report. The apparatus may includea processor configured to execute at least one instruction of theplurality of machine instructions.

Some additional embodiments may include the following:

A method comprising: receiving a plurality of first representations, inwhich each first representation represents a respective report;receiving a second representation of a first user; determining at leastone group to which the first user belongs; determining at least one setof members of the at least one group; and filtering the plurality offirst representations based, at least in part, on the at least one setof members.

The method of paragraph 6, in which receiving the plurality of firstrepresentations includes receiving the plurality of firstrepresentations from a plurality of sources.

The method of paragraph 7, in which the plurality of sources includes atleast one individual.

The method of paragraph 8, in which the at least one individual includesa user of at least one website.

The method of paragraph 7, in which the plurality of sources includes atleast one collector of reports.

The method of paragraph 10, in which the at least one collector ofreports includes at least one website.

The method of paragraph 6, in which the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one electronic message.

The method of paragraph 12, in which the at least one electronic messageincludes at least one of an email message, an HTTP message, a databasemessage, an MMS message, and an SMS message.

The method of paragraph 6, in which the at least one secondrepresentation includes at least one electronic message.

The method of paragraph 14, in which the at least one electronic messageincludes at least one of an email message, an HTTP message, a databasemessage, an MMS message, and an SMS message.

The method of paragraph 6, in which each of the plurality of firstrepresentations further represents an originator of the reportrepresented by the respective first representation.

The method of paragraph 16, in which filtering the plurality of firstrepresentations includes excluding from the plurality of firstrepresentations at least one first representation that represents areport that was not originated by at least one member of the at leastone set of members.

The method of paragraph 17, in which filtering the plurality of firstrepresentations includes excluding from the plurality of firstrepresentations each first representation that represents a report thatwas not originated by at least one member of the at least one set ofmembers.

The method of paragraph 17, in which filtering the plurality of firstrepresentations includes excluding from the plurality of firstrepresentations at least one first representation that represents anegative report that was originated by at least one member of the atleast one set of members.

The method of paragraph 19, in which each of the plurality of firstrepresentations further represents at least one of a respective targetand a respective target type and filtering includes excluding from theplurality of first representations at least one first representationthat represents at least one of an undesired target and an undesiredtarget type.

The method of paragraph 6, in which each first representation of theplurality of first representations includes a representation of at leastone of a respective target and a respective type of the respectivereport.

The method of paragraph 21, in which the respective includes at leastone of a product, a merchant, a service, and a service provider and therespective type includes at least one of a type of product, a type ofmerchant, a type of service, and a type of service provider.

The method of paragraph 6, in which at least one report represented byleast one first representation of the plurality of first representationsincludes an indication of at least one purchase.

The method of paragraph 6, in which at least one report represented byat least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one report on a service of a serviceprovider.

The method of paragraph 24, in which the at least one report includes atleast one of a review of the service, a rating of the service, arecommendation for the service, a recommendation against the service,and a fact regarding the service.

The method of paragraph 24, in which the service includes a deliveryservice.

The method of paragraph 26, in which the at least one report includes atleast one of a time taken by the delivery service, a rating of thedelivery service, a review of the delivery service, a recommendation forthe delivery service, and a recommendation against the delivery service.

The method of paragraph 6, in which at least one report represented byat least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one report on a product of a merchant.

The method of paragraph 28, in which the at least one report includes atleast one of a review of the product, a rating of the product, arecommendation for the product, a recommendation against the product,and a fact regarding the product.

The method of paragraph 6, in which the at least one group includes asocial network of the first user and the set of members includes thefirst user and at least one other member of the social network.

The method of paragraph 30, in which the first user includes a customerof at least one of a merchant and a service provider.

The method of paragraph 30, in which the first user includes at leastone of a merchant and a service provider.

The method of paragraph 30, further comprising: receiving a thirdrepresentation of a potential member of the social network from at leastone of the first user and the at least one other member of the socialnetwork; requesting an agreement to join the social network from thepotential member; and adding the potential member to the social networkif the potential member agrees to join the social network.

The method of paragraph 30, further comprising: receiving a thirdrepresentation of a potential member of the social network from thepotential member; requesting acceptance of the potential member from atleast one of the first user and the at least one other member of thesocial network; and adding the potential member to the social network ifthe at least one of the first user and the at least one other memberaccepts the potential member.

The method of paragraph 30, in which each member of the social networkis related to at least one of the first user and at least one othermember of the social network.

The method of paragraph 35, in which each member of the social networkis a friend of at least one of the first user and the at least one othermember of the social network.

The method of paragraph 35, in which each member of the social networkis a contact of at least one of the first user and the at least oneother member of the social network.

The method of paragraph 35, in which each member of the social networkis a colleague of at least one of the first user and the at least oneother member of the social network.

The method of paragraph 6, in which at least one member of the at leastone group includes a reporter chosen by the first user.

The method of paragraph 39, further comprising receiving a thirdrepresentation of the reporter from the first user.

The method of paragraph 39, further comprising adding the chosenreporter to the at least one group.

The method of paragraph 39, in which the chosen reporter is at least oneof a professional reporter, a celebrity, and a reporting organization.

The method of paragraph 6, in which the at least one group includes atleast one member having at least one desired characteristic.

The method of paragraph 43, further comprising receiving at least onethird representation of the desired characteristic from the first user.

The method of paragraph 44, in which the first user includes a customerof at least one of a merchant and a service provider.

The method of paragraph 44, in which the first user includes at leastone of a merchant and a service provider.

The method of paragraph 44, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation include at least one electronic message.

The method of paragraph 47, in which the at least one electronic messageincludes at least one of an HTTP message, a database message, a SMSmessage, a MMS message, and an email message.

The method of paragraph 43, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes a geographic area.

The method of paragraph 49, in which the geographic area includes atleast one of a geographic area in which the first user lives and ageographic area of a place of business of the first user.

The method of paragraph 43, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes a profession.

The method of paragraph 51, in which the profession includes a firstprofession in which the first user works.

The method of paragraph 43, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes membership in an organization.

The method of paragraph 53, in which the first user is a member of theorganization.

The method of paragraph 6, further comprising transmitting at least onethird representation of the filtered plurality of first representations.

The method of paragraph 55, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation includes at least one interface through which thefiltered plurality of first representations may be viewed.

The method of paragraph 56, in which the at least one interface includesat least one of a website, a mobile device interface, and an emailmessage.

The method of paragraph 55, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation includes an electronic message.

The method of paragraph 58, in which the electronic message includes atleast one of an HTTP message, a database message, a SMS message, a MMSmessage, and an email message.

The method of paragraph 6, further comprising presenting the filteredplurality of first representations to the first user.

The method of paragraph 60, in which presenting includes displaying thefiltered plurality of first representations through a video display.

The method of paragraph 6, in the at least one second representationincludes at least one of a name, an email address, a login name, amailing address, a telephone number, and a user identifier.

The method of paragraph 6, further comprising making at least onerecommendation to the first user based, at least in part, on thefiltered plurality of first representations.

The method of paragraph 63, in which the at least one recommendationincludes a first recommendation for at least one of a product of amerchant and a service of a service provider, and in which at least onefirst report represented by at least one representation of the filteredplurality of first representations is a report on the at least one ofthe product and the service.

The method of paragraph 64, in which the at least one first reportincludes a positive report.

The method of paragraph 64, in which the at least one first reportincludes a high rating of the at least one of the product and theservice.

The method of paragraph 66, in which the high rating includes at leastone first rating that is higher than at least one second rating given toat least one of a non-recommended product and a non-recommended serviceby at least one second report represented by at least one otherrepresentation of the plurality of first representations.

The method of paragraph 63, in which making the at least onerecommendation includes presenting at least one third representation ofat least one of a product and a service to the first user.

The method of paragraph 68, in which presenting includes displaying theat least one third representation through a user interface.

The method of paragraph 68, in which presenting includes displaying theat least one third representations through a video display.

The method of paragraph 6, further comprising choosing at least one of achosen product of a merchant and a chosen service of a service providerbased, at least in part, on the filtered plurality of firstrepresentations.

The method of paragraph 71, in which at least one first reportrepresented by at least one representation of the filtered plurality offirst representations is a report on the at least one of the chosenproduct and the chosen service.

The method of paragraph 72, in which the at least one first reportincludes a positive report.

The method of paragraph 72, in which the at least one first reportincludes a high rating of the at least one of the chosen product and thechosen service.

The method of paragraph 74, in which the high rating includes at leastone first rating that is higher than at least one second rating given toat least one of a non-chosen product and a non-chosen service by atleast one second report represented by at least one other representationof the plurality of first representations.

An apparatus comprising: a machine readable medium having stored thereona plurality of machine instructions for controlling at least onecomputer system to perform a method according to paragraph 1.

The apparatus of paragraph 76, further comprising: a processorconfigured to execute at least one instruction of the plurality ofmachine instructions.

A method comprising: receiving a plurality of first representations, inwhich each first representation represents a respective report;receiving at least one second representation of at least one group; andfiltering the plurality of first representations based, at least inpart, on the at least one second representation.

The method of paragraph 78, in which receiving the plurality of firstrepresentations includes receiving the plurality of firstrepresentations from a plurality of sources.

The method of paragraph 79, in which the plurality of sources includesat least one individual.

The method of paragraph 80, in which the at least one individualincludes a user of at least one website.

The method of paragraph 79, in which the plurality of sources includesat least one collector of reports.

The method of paragraph 82, in which the at least one collector ofreports includes at least one website.

The method of paragraph 78, in which the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one electronic message.

The method of paragraph 84, in which the at least one electronic messageincludes at least one of an email message, an HTTP message, a databasemessage, an MMS message, and an SMS message.

The method of paragraph 78, in which the at least one secondrepresentation includes at least one electronic message.

The method of paragraph 86, in which the at least one electronic messageincludes at least one of an email message, an HTTP message, a databasemessage, an MMS message, and an SMS message.

The method of paragraph 78, in which each of the plurality of firstrepresentations further represents an originator of the reportrepresented by the respective first representation.

The method of paragraph 88, in which filtering the plurality of firstrepresentations includes excluding from the plurality of firstrepresentations at least one first representation that represents areport that was not originated by at least one member of the at leastone group.

The method of paragraph 89, in which filtering the plurality of firstrepresentations includes excluding from the plurality of firstrepresentations each first representation that represents a report thatwas not originated by at least one member of the at least one group.

The method of paragraph 89, in which filtering the plurality of firstrepresentations includes excluding from the plurality of firstrepresentations at least one first representation that represents anegative report that was originated by at least one member of the atleast one group.

The method of paragraph 91, in which each of the plurality of firstrepresentations further represents at least one of a respective targetand a respective target type and filtering includes excluding from theplurality of first representations at least one first representationthat represents at least one of an undesired target and an undesiredtarget type.

The method of paragraph 78, in which each first representation of theplurality of first representations includes a representation of at leastone of a respective target and a respective type of the respectivereport.

The method of paragraph 93, in which the respective includes at leastone of a product, a merchant, a service, and a service provider and therespective type includes at least one of a type of product, a type ofmerchant, a type of service, and a type of service provider.

The method of paragraph 78, in which at least one report represented byleast one first representation of the plurality of first representationsincludes an indication of at least one purchase.

The method of paragraph 78, in which at least one report represented byat least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one report on a service of a serviceprovider.

The method of paragraph 96, in which the at least one report includes atleast one of a review of the service, a rating of the service, arecommendation for the service, a recommendation against the service,and a fact regarding the service.

The method of paragraph 96, in which the service includes a deliveryservice.

The method of paragraph 98, in which the at least one report includes atleast one of a time taken by the delivery service, a rating of thedelivery service, a review of the delivery service, a recommendation forthe delivery service, and a recommendation against the delivery service.

The method of paragraph 78, in which at least one report represented byat least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one report on a product of a merchant.

The method of paragraph 100, in which the at least one report includesat least one of a review of the product, a rating of the product, arecommendation for the product, a recommendation against the product,and a fact regarding the product.

The method of paragraph 78, in which the at least one group includes atleast one social network of at least one user.

The method of paragraph 102, in which the at least one user includes acustomer of at least one of a merchant and a service provider.

The method of paragraph 102, in which the at least one user includes atleast one of a merchant and a service provider.

The method of paragraph 102, further comprising: receiving a thirdrepresentation of a potential member of the at least one social networkfrom at least one of the at least one user and at least one other memberof the at least one social network; requesting an agreement to join thesocial network from the potential member; and adding the potentialmember to the social network if the potential member agrees to join theat least one social network.

The method of paragraph 102, further comprising: receiving a thirdrepresentation of a potential member of the at least one social networkfrom the potential member; requesting acceptance of the potential memberfrom at least one of the at least one user and at least one other memberof the at least one social network; and adding the potential member tothe at least one social network if the at least one of the at least oneuser and the at least one other member accepts the potential member.

The method of paragraph 102, in which each member of the social networkis related to at least one of the at least one user and at least oneother member of the at least one social network.

The method of paragraph 107, in which each member of the social networkis a friend of at least one of the at least one user and another memberof the at least one social network.

The method of paragraph 107, in which each member of the social networkis a contact of at least one of the at least one user and another memberof the at least one social network.

The method of paragraph 107, in which each member of the social networkis a colleague of at least one of the at least one user and anothermember of the at least one social network.

The method of paragraph 78, in which at least one member of the at leastone group includes a reporter chosen by at least one user.

The method of paragraph 111, further comprising receiving a thirdrepresentation of the reporter from the at least one user.

The method of paragraph 112, further comprising adding the chosenreporter to the at least one group.

The method of paragraph 112, in which the chosen reporter is at leastone of a professional reporter, a celebrity, and a reportingorganization.

The method of paragraph 78, in which the at least one group includes atleast one member having at least one desired characteristic.

The method of paragraph 115, further comprising receiving at least onethird representation of the desired characteristic from at least oneuser.

The method of paragraph 116, in which the at least one secondrepresentation is received from the at least one user.

The method of paragraph 116, in which the at least one user includes acustomer of at least one of a merchant and a service provider.

The method of paragraph 116, in which the at least one user includes atleast one of a merchant and a service provider.

The method of paragraph 116, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation include at least one electronic message.

The method of paragraph 120, in which the at least one electronicmessage includes at least one of an HTTP message, a database message, aSMS message, a MMS message, and an email message.

The method of paragraph 115, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes a geographic area.

The method of paragraph 122, in which the geographic area includes atleast one of a geographic area in which the at least one user lives anda geographic area of a place of business of the at least one user.

The method of paragraph 115, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes a profession.

The method of paragraph 124, in which the profession includes a firstprofession in which the at least one user works.

The method of paragraph 115, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes membership in an organization.

The method of paragraph 126, in which the at least one user is a memberof the organization.

The method of paragraph 78, further comprising transmitting at least onethird representation of the filtered plurality of first representations.

The method of paragraph 128, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation includes at least one interface through which a user mayview the filtered plurality of first representations.

The method of paragraph 129, in which the at least one interfaceincludes at least one of a website, a mobile device interface, and anemail message.

The method of paragraph 129, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation includes an electronic message.

The method of paragraph 131, in which the electronic message includes atleast one of an HTTP message, a database message, a SMS message, a MMSmessage, and an email message.

The method of paragraph 78, further comprising presenting the filteredplurality of first representations to at least one user.

The method of paragraph 133, in which presenting includes displaying thefiltered plurality of first representations through a video display.

The method of paragraph 78, in which the at least one secondrepresentation includes a representation of at least one member of thegroup.

The method of paragraph 78, in which the at least one secondrepresentation includes a contact list.

The method of paragraph 136, in which the at least one group includes atleast one contact of the contact list.

The method of paragraph 136, in which the contact list includes at leastone email contact list.

The method of paragraph 78, in which for at least one member of the atleast one group, the at least one second representation includes atleast one of a name, an email address, a login name, a mailing address,a telephone number, and a user identifier.

The method of paragraph 78, further comprising making at least onerecommendation to a user based, at least in part, on the filteredplurality of first representations.

The method of paragraph 140, in which the at least one recommendationincludes a first recommendation for at least one of a product of amerchant and a service of a service provider, and in which at least onefirst report represented by at least one representation of the filteredplurality of first representations is a report on the at least one ofthe product and the service.

The method of paragraph 141, in which the at least one first reportincludes a positive report.

The method of paragraph 141, in which the at least one first reportincludes a high rating of the at least one of the product and theservice.

The method of paragraph 143, in which the high rating includes at leastone first rating that is higher than at least one second rating given toat least one of a non-recommended product and a non-recommended serviceby at least one second report represented by at least one otherrepresentation of the plurality of first representations.

The method of paragraph 140, in which making the at least onerecommendation includes presenting at least one third representation ofat least one of a product and a service to the user.

The method of paragraph 145, in which presenting includes displaying theat least one third representation through a user interface.

The method of paragraph 145, in which presenting includes displaying theat least one third representations through a video display.

The method of paragraph 78, further comprising choosing at least one ofa chosen product of a merchant and a chosen service of a serviceprovider based, at least in part, on the filtered plurality of firstrepresentations.

The method of paragraph 148, in which at least one first reportrepresented by at least one representation of the filtered plurality offirst representations is a report on the at least one of the chosenproduct and the chosen service.

The method of paragraph 149, in which the at least one first reportincludes a positive report.

The method of paragraph 149, in which the at least one first reportincludes a high rating of the at least one of the chosen product and thechosen service.

The method of paragraph 151, in which the high rating includes at leastone first rating that is higher than at least one second rating given toat least one of a non-chosen product and a non-chosen service by atleast one second report represented by at least one other representationof the plurality of first representations.

An apparatus comprising: a machine readable medium having stored thereona plurality of machine instructions for controlling at least onecomputer system to perform a method according to paragraph 78.

The apparatus of paragraph 153, further comprising: a processorconfigured to execute at least one instruction of the plurality ofmachine instructions.

A method comprising: receiving a plurality of first representations, inwhich each first representation represents a respective report and anoriginator of the report; and responding to a request from a user byproviding the user at least one second representation of at least onesubset of the plurality of first representations, in which the at leastone subset does not include at least one first representation thatrepresents an originator that is not a member of at least one group.

The method of paragraph 155, in which the at least one subset does notinclude at least one first representation that represents an originatorthat is a member of the at least one group and that represents anegative report.

The method of paragraph 155, in which the at least one subset does notinclude any first representations that represent an originator that isnot a member of the at least one group.

The method of paragraph 157, in which the at least one subset does notinclude any first representation that represents an originator that is amember of the at least one group and that represents a negative report.

The method of paragraph 155, in which receiving the plurality of firstrepresentations includes receiving the plurality of firstrepresentations from a plurality of sources.

The method of paragraph 159, in which the plurality of sources includesat least one individual.

The method of paragraph 160, in which the at least one individualincludes at least one user of at least one website.

The method of paragraph 159, in which the plurality of sources includesat least one collector of reports.

The method of paragraph 159, in which the at least one collector ofreports includes at least one website.

The method of paragraph 155, in which the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one electronic message.

The method of paragraph 164, in which the electronic message includes atleast one of an email message, an HTTP message, a database message, anMMS message, and an SMS message.

The method of paragraph 155, in which the at least one request includesan electronic message.

The method of paragraph 166, in which the electronic message includes atleast one of an email message, an HTTP message, a database message, anMMS message, and an SMS message.

The method of paragraph 155, in which each first representation of theplurality of first representations includes a representation of at leastone of a respective target and a respective type of the respectivereport.

The method of paragraph 168, in which the at least one subset does notinclude at least one first representation that represents at least oneof an undesired target and an undesired target type.

The method of paragraph 155, in which at least one first representationof the plurality of first representations represents an indication of atlast one purchase.

The method of paragraph 155, in which at least one report represented byat least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one report on a service of a serviceprovider.

The method of paragraph 171, in which the at least one report includesat least one rating of the service, review of the service, arecommendation for the service, a recommendation against the service,and a fact regarding the service.

The method of paragraph 171, in which the service includes a deliveryservice.

The method of paragraph 173, in which the at least one report includesat least one of a time taken by the delivery service, a rating of thedelivery service, a review of the delivery service, a recommendation forthe delivery service, and a recommendation against the delivery service.

The method of paragraph 155, in which at least one report represented byat least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one report on a product of a merchant.

The method of paragraph 175, in which the at least one report includesat least one of a review of the product, a rating of the product, arecommendation for the product, a recommendation against the product,and a fact regarding the product.

The method of paragraph 155, in which the at least one group includes asocial network of an entity.

The method of paragraph 177, in which the entity includes the user.

The method of paragraph 178, in which the user includes at least one ofa merchant and a service provider.

The method of paragraph 178, in which the user includes a customer of atleast one of a merchant and a service provider.

The method of paragraph 177, further comprising: receiving a thirdrepresentation of a potential member of the social network from at leastone of the entity and another member of the social network; requestingan agreement to join the social network from the potential member; andadding the potential member to the social network if the potentialmember agrees to join the social network.

The method of paragraph 177, further comprising: receiving a thirdrepresentation of a potential member of the social network from thepotential member; requesting acceptance of the potential member from atleast one of the entity and another member of the social network; andadding the potential member to the social network if the at least one ofthe entity and the other member of the social network accepts thepotential member.

The method of paragraph 177, in which each member of the social networkis related to at least one of the entity and another member of thesocial network.

The method of paragraph 183, in which each member of the social networkis a friend of at least one of the entity and another member of thesocial network.

The method of paragraph 183, in which each member of the social networkis a contact of at least one of the entity and another member of thesocial network.

The method of paragraph 183, in which each member of the social networkis a colleague of at least one of the entity and another member of thesocial network.

The method of paragraph 155, in which the at least one group includes areporter chosen by the user.

The method of paragraph 187, further comprising receiving a thirdrepresentation of the chosen reporter from the user.

The method of paragraph 188, further comprising adding the chosenreviewer to the at least one group.

The method of paragraph 188, in which the chosen reviewer is at leastone of a professional reporter, a celebrity, and a reportingorganization.

The method of paragraph 155, in which the at least one group includes atleast one first member having at least one desired characteristic.

The method of paragraph 191, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes a geographic area.

The method of paragraph 192, in which the geographic area includes ageographic area in which the user lives and a geographic area of a placeof business of the user.

The method of paragraph 191, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes a profession.

The method of paragraph 194, in which the profession includes a firstprofession in which the user works.

The method of paragraph 191, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes membership in an organization.

The method of paragraph 196, in which the uses is a member of theorganization.

The method of paragraph 191, further comprising receiving at least onethird representation of the desired characteristic from the user.

The method of paragraph 198, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation includes at least one electronic message.

The method of paragraph 199 in which the at least one electronic messageincludes at least one of an HTTP message, a database message, a SMSmessage, a MMS message, and an email message.

The method of paragraph 155, in which providing the users the at leastone second representation includes transmitting the at least one secondrepresentation to the user.

The method of paragraph 201, in which the at least one secondrepresentation includes at least one electronic message.

The method of paragraph 202, in which the at least one electronicmessage includes at least one of an HTTP message, an email, a databasemessage, a SMS message, and a MMS message.

The method of paragraph 155, in which providing the users the at leastone second representation includes displaying the at least one secondrepresentation through at least one interface.

The method of paragraph 204, in which the at least one interfaceincludes at least one of a website, a mobile device interface, and anemail.

The method of paragraph 155, in which the at least one group includes atleast one contact from a contact list of the user.

The method of paragraph 206, in which the contact list includes at leastone email contact list.

The method of paragraph 155, further comprising receiving at least onethird representation of the at least one group from the user.

The method of paragraph 208, in which for at least one member of the atleast one group, the at least one third representation includes at leastone of a name, an email address, a login name, a mailing address, atelephone number, and a user identifier.

The method of paragraph 155, further comprising expanding the at leastone group.

The method of paragraph 155, in which responding to the request includesmaking at least one recommendation based, at least in part, on the atleast one subset of the plurality of first representations.

The method of paragraph 211, in which the at least one recommendationincludes a first recommendation or at least one of a recommended productof merchant and a recommended service of a service provider, and inwhich at least one first report represented by at least one of the atleast one subset of the plurality of first representations is a reporton the at least one of the recommended product and the recommendedservice.

The method of paragraph 212, in which the at least one report includes apositive report.

The method of paragraph 212, in which the at least one first reportincludes a high rating of the at least one of the recommended productand the recommended service.

The method of paragraph 214, in which the high rating includes at leastone first rating that is higher than at least one second rating given toat least one of a non-recommended product and a non-recommended serviceby at least one second report represented by at least one otherrepresentation of the plurality of first representations.

The method of paragraph 211, in which making the at least onerecommendation includes presenting at least one third representation ofthe at least one of the recommended product and the recommended serviceto the user.

The method of paragraph 216, in which presenting includes displaying theat least one third recommendation through a user interface.

The method of paragraph 216, in which presenting includes displaying theat least one third representation through a video display.

The method of paragraph 155, in which responding to the request includeschoosing at least one of a product of a chosen merchant and a chosenservice of a service provider based, at least in part, on the subset ofthe plurality of first representations.

The method of paragraph 219, in which at least one first reportrepresented by at least one representation of the subset of theplurality of first representations includes a report on the at least oneof the chosen product and the chosen service.

The method of paragraph 220, in which the at least one first reportincludes a positive report.

The method of paragraph 220, in which the at least one first reportincludes a high rating of the at least one of the chosen product and thechosen service.

The method of paragraph 222, in which the high rating includes at leastone first rating that is higher than at least one second rating given toat least one of a non-chosen product and a non-chosen service by atleast one second report representation by at least one otherrepresentation of the plurality of first representations.

An apparatus comprising: a machine readable medium having stored thereona plurality of machine instructions for controlling at least onecomputer system to perform a method according to paragraph 155.

The apparatus of paragraph 224, further comprising: A processorconfigured to execute at least one instruction of the plurality ofmachine instructions.

An apparatus comprising: an first element configured to receiving aplurality of first representations, in which each first representationrepresents a report, and further configured to receive a secondrepresentation of a first user; and a second element configured todetermine at least one group to which the first user belongs, configuredto determine at least one set of members of the at least one group, andconfigured to filter the plurality of first representations based, atleast in part, on the at least one set of members.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which the first element is configuredto receive the plurality of first representations from a plurality ofsources.

The apparatus of paragraph 227, in which the plurality of sourcesincludes at least one individual.

The apparatus of paragraph 228, in which the at least one individualincludes a user of at least one website.

The apparatus of paragraph 227, in which the plurality of sourcesincludes at least one collector of reports.

The apparatus of paragraph 230, in which the at least one collector ofreports includes at least one website.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one electronic message.

The apparatus of paragraph 232, in which the at least one electronicmessage includes at least one of an email message, an HTTP message, adatabase message, an MMS message, and an SMS message.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which the at least one secondrepresentation includes at least one electronic message.

The apparatus of paragraph 234, in which the at least one electronicmessage includes at least one of an email message, an HTTP message, adatabase message, an MMS message, and an SMS message.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which each of the plurality of firstrepresentations further represents an originator of the reportrepresented by the respective first representation.

The apparatus of paragraph 236, in which the second element isconfigured to exclude from the plurality of first representations atleast one first representation that represents a report that was notoriginated by at least one member of the at least one set of members.

The apparatus of paragraph 237, in which the second element isconfigured to exclude from the plurality of first representations eachfirst representation that represents a report that was not originated byat least one member of the at least one set of members.

The apparatus of paragraph 237, in which the second element isconfigured to exclude from the plurality of first representations atleast one first representation that represents a negative report thatwas originated by at least one member of the at least one set ofmembers.

The apparatus of paragraph 239, in which each of the plurality of firstrepresentations further represents at least one of a respective targetand a respective target type and filtering includes excluding from theplurality of first representations at least one first representationthat represents at least one of an undesired target and an undesiredtarget type.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which each first representation ofthe plurality of first representations includes a representation of atleast one of a respective target and a respective type of the respectivereport.

The apparatus of paragraph 241, in which the respective includes atleast one of a product, a merchant, a service, and a service providerand the respective type includes at least one of a type of product, atype of merchant, a type of service, and a type of service provider.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which at least one report representedby least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes an indication of at least one purchase.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which at least one report representedby at least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one report on a service of a serviceprovider.

The apparatus of paragraph 244, in which the at least one reportincludes at least one of a review of the service, a rating of theservice, a recommendation for the service, a recommendation against theservice, and a fact regarding the service.

The apparatus of paragraph 244, in which the service includes a deliveryservice.

The apparatus of paragraph 246, in which the at least one reportincludes at least one of a time taken by the delivery service, a ratingof the delivery service, a review of the delivery service, arecommendation for the delivery service, and a recommendation againstthe delivery service.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which at least one report representedby at least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one report on a product of a merchant.

The apparatus of paragraph 248, in which the at least one reportincludes at least one of a review of the product, a rating of theproduct, a recommendation for the product, a recommendation against theproduct, and a fact regarding the product.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which the second element isconfigured to determine at least one social network to which the firstuser and the set of members belong.

The apparatus of paragraph 250, in which the first user includes acustomer of at least one of a merchant and a service provider.

The apparatus of paragraph 250, in which the first user includes atleast one of a merchant and a service provider.

The apparatus of paragraph 250, in which the first element is configuredto receive a third representation of a potential member of the socialnetwork from at least one of the first user and at least one othermember of the social network, is configured to transmit a request for anagreement to join the social network from the potential member; and isconfigured to receive a response to the request for an agreement; andthe second element is configured to add the potential member to thesocial network if the potential member agrees to join the socialnetwork.

The apparatus of paragraph 250, in which the first element is configuredto receive a third representation of a potential member of the socialnetwork from the potential member, is configured to transmit a requestfor acceptance of the potential member to at least one of the first userand at least one other member of the social network, and is configure toreceive a response to the request for acceptance; and the second elementis configured to add the potential member to the social network if theat least one of the first user and the at least one other member acceptsthe potential member.

The apparatus of paragraph 250, in which each member of the socialnetwork is related to at least one of the first user and at least oneother member of the social network.

The apparatus of paragraph 255, in which each member of the socialnetwork is a friend of at least one of the first user and the at leastone other member of the social network.

The apparatus of paragraph 255, in which each member of the socialnetwork is a contact of at least one of the first user and the at leastone other member of the social network.

The apparatus of paragraph 255, in which each member of the socialnetwork is a colleague of at least one of the first user and the atleast one other member of the social network.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which at least one member of the atleast one group includes a reporter chosen by the first user.

The apparatus of paragraph 259, in which the first element is furtherconfigured to receive a third representation of the reporter from thefirst user.

The apparatus of paragraph 260, in which the second element is furtherconfigured to add the chosen reporter to the at least one group.

The apparatus of paragraph 260, in which the chosen reporter is at leastone of a professional reporter, a celebrity, and a reportingorganization.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which the at least one group includesat least one member having at least one desired characteristic.

The apparatus of paragraph 263, in which the first element is configuredto receive at least one third representation of the desiredcharacteristic from the first user.

The apparatus of paragraph 264, in which the first user includes acustomer of at least one of a merchant and a service provider.

The apparatus of paragraph 264, in which the first user includes atleast one of a merchant and a service provider.

The apparatus of paragraph 263, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes a geographic area.

The apparatus of paragraph 267, in which the geographic area includes atleast one of a geographic area in which the first user lives and ageographic area of a place of business of the first user.

The apparatus of paragraph 263, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes a profession.

The apparatus of paragraph 269, in which the profession includes a firstprofession in which the first user works.

The apparatus of paragraph 263, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes membership in an organization.

The apparatus of paragraph 271, in which the first user is a member ofthe organization.

The apparatus of paragraph 263, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation include at least one electronic message.

The apparatus of paragraph 273, in which the at least one electronicmessage includes at least one of an HTTP message, a database message, aSMS message, a MMS message, and an email message.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which the second element isconfigured to transmit at least one third representation of the filteredplurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 275, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation includes at least one interface through which thefiltered plurality of first representations may be viewed.

The apparatus of paragraph 276, in which the at least one interfaceincludes at least one of a website, a mobile device interface, and anemail message.

The apparatus of paragraph 275, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation includes an electronic message.

The apparatus of paragraph 278, in which the electronic message includesat least one of an HTTP message, a database message, a SMS message, aMMS message, and an email message.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in the at least one secondrepresentation includes at least one of a name, an email address, alogin name, a mailing address, a telephone number, and a useridentifier.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which the second element isconfigured to generate at least one recommendation based, at least inpart, on the filtered plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 281, in which the at least one recommendationincludes a first recommendation for at least one of a product of amerchant and a service of a service provider, and in which at least onefirst report represented by at least one representation of the filteredplurality of first representations is a report on the at least one ofthe product and the service.

The apparatus of paragraph 282, in which the at least one first reportincludes a positive report.

The apparatus of paragraph 282, in which the at least one first reportincludes a high rating of the at least one of the product and theservice.

The apparatus of paragraph 284, in which the high rating includes atleast one first rating that is higher than at least one second ratinggiven to at least one of a non-recommended product and a non-recommendedservice by at least one second report represented by at least one otherrepresentation of the plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 281, in which the at least one first elementis configured to transmit a at least one third representation of therecommendation to the first user.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which the second element is furtherconfigured to choose at least one of a chosen product of a merchant anda chosen service of a service provider based, at least in part, on thefiltered plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 287, in which at least one first reportrepresented by at least one representation of the filtered plurality offirst representations is a report on the at least one of the chosenproduct and the chosen service.

The apparatus of paragraph 288, in which the at least one first reportincludes a positive report.

The apparatus of paragraph 288, in which the at least one first reportincludes a high rating of the at least one of the chosen product and thechosen service.

The apparatus of paragraph 290, in which the high rating includes atleast one first rating that is higher than at least one second ratinggiven to at least one of a non-chosen product and a non-chosen serviceby at least one second report represented by at least one otherrepresentation of the plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 226, in which the first element includes atleast one input/output device and the second element includes at leastone processor.

An apparatus comprising: at least one first element configured toreceive at least one first representation of at least one group andfurther configured to receive a plurality of second representations, inwhich each second representation represents a report; and at least onesecond element configured to filter the plurality of secondrepresentations based, at least in part, on the at least one group.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which the first element is configuredto receive the plurality of first representations from a plurality ofsources.

The apparatus of paragraph 294, in which the plurality of sourcesincludes at least one individual.

The apparatus of paragraph 295, in which the at least one individualincludes a user of at least one website.

The apparatus of paragraph 294, in which the plurality of sourcesincludes at least one collector of reports.

The apparatus of paragraph 297, in which the at least one collector ofreports includes at least one website.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one electronic message.

The apparatus of paragraph 299, in which the at least one electronicmessage includes at least one of an email message, an HTTP message, adatabase message, an MMS message, and an SMS message.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which the at least one secondrepresentation includes at least one electronic message.

The apparatus of paragraph 301, in which the at least one electronicmessage includes at least one of an email message, an HTTP message, adatabase message, an MMS message, and an SMS message.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which each of the plurality of firstrepresentations further represents an originator of the reportrepresented by the respective first representation.

The apparatus of paragraph 303, in which the second element isconfigured to exclude from the plurality of first representations atleast one first representation that represents a report that was notoriginated by at least one member of the at least one group.

The apparatus of paragraph 304, in which the second element isconfigured to exclude from the plurality of first representations eachfirst representation that represents a report that was not originated byat least one member of the at least one group.

The apparatus of paragraph 304, in which the second element isconfigured to exclude from the plurality of first representations atleast one first representation that represents a negative report thatwas originated by at least one member of the at least one group.

The apparatus of paragraph 306, in which each of the plurality of firstrepresentations further represents at least one of a respective targetand a respective target type and filtering includes excluding from theplurality of first representations at least one first representationthat represents at least one of an undesired target and an undesiredtarget type.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which each first representation ofthe plurality of first representations includes a representation of atleast one of a respective target and a respective type of the respectivereport.

The apparatus of paragraph 308, in which the respective includes atleast one of a product, a merchant, a service, and a service providerand the respective type includes at least one of a type of product, atype of merchant, a type of service, and a type of service provider.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which at least one report representedby least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes an indication of at least one purchase.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which at least one report representedby at least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one report on a service of a serviceprovider.

The apparatus of paragraph 311 in which the at least one report includesat least one of a review of the service, a rating of the service, arecommendation for the service, a recommendation against the service,and a fact regarding the service.

The apparatus of paragraph 311, in which the service includes a deliveryservice.

The apparatus of paragraph 313, in which the at least one reportincludes at least one of a time taken by the delivery service, a ratingof the delivery service, a review of the delivery service, arecommendation for the delivery service, and a recommendation againstthe delivery service.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which at least one report representedby at least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one report on a product of a merchant.

The apparatus of paragraph 315, in which the at least one reportincludes at least one of a review of the product, a rating of theproduct, a recommendation for the product, a recommendation against theproduct, and a fact regarding the product.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which the at least one group includesat least one social network of at least one user.

The apparatus of paragraph 317, in which the at least one user includesa customer of at least one of a merchant and a service provider.

The apparatus of paragraph 317, in which the at least one user includesat least one of a merchant and a service provider.

The apparatus of paragraph 317, in which the first element is configuredto receive a third representation of a potential member of the socialnetwork from at least one of the at least one user and at least oneother member of the social network, is configured to transmit a requestfor an agreement to join the social network from the potential member;and is configured to receive a response to the request for an agreement;and the second element is configured to add the potential member to thesocial network if the potential member agrees to join the socialnetwork.

The apparatus of paragraph 317, in which the first element is configuredto receive a third representation of a potential member of the socialnetwork from the potential member, is configured to transmit a requestfor acceptance of the potential member to at least one of the at leastone user and at least one other member of the social network, and isconfigure to receive a response to the request for acceptance; and thesecond element is configured to add the potential member to the socialnetwork if the at least one of the at least one user and the at leastone other member accepts the potential member.

The apparatus of paragraph 317, in which each member of the socialnetwork is related to at least one of the at least one user and at leastone other member of the at least one social network.

The apparatus of paragraph 322, in which each member of the socialnetwork is a friend of at least one of the at least one user and anothermember of the at least one social network.

The apparatus of paragraph 322, in which each member of the socialnetwork is a contact of at least one of the at least one user andanother member of the at least one social network.

The apparatus of paragraph 322, in which each member of the socialnetwork is a colleague of at least one of the at least one user andanother member of the at least one social network.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which at least one member of the atleast one group includes a reporter chosen by at least one user.

The apparatus of paragraph 326, in which the first element is configuredto receive a third representation of the reporter from the at least oneuser.

The apparatus of paragraph 327, in which the second element isconfigured to add the chosen reporter to the at least one group.

The apparatus of paragraph 327, in which the chosen reporter is at leastone of a professional reporter, a celebrity, and a reportingorganization.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which the at least one group includesat least one member having at least one desired characteristic.

The apparatus of paragraph 330, in which the first element is configuredto receive at least one third representation of the desiredcharacteristic from at least one user.

The apparatus of paragraph 331, in which the first element is configuredto receive the at least one second representation from the at least oneuser.

The apparatus of paragraph 331, in which the at least one user includesa customer of at least one of a merchant and a service provider.

The apparatus of paragraph 331, in which the at least one user includesat least one of a merchant and a service provider.

The apparatus of paragraph 331, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation include at least one electronic message.

The apparatus of paragraph 335, in which the at least one electronicmessage includes at least one of an HTTP message, a database message, aSMS message, a MMS message, and an email message.

The apparatus of paragraph 330, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes a geographic area.

The apparatus of paragraph 337, in which the geographic area includes atleast one of a geographic area in which the at least one user lives anda geographic area of a place of business of the at least one user.

The apparatus of paragraph 330, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes a profession.

The apparatus of paragraph 339, in which the profession includes a firstprofession in which the at least one user works.

The apparatus of paragraph 330, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes membership in an organization.

The apparatus of paragraph 341, in which the at least one user is amember of the organization.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which the at least one first elementis further configured to transmit at least one third representation ofthe filtered plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 343, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation includes at least one interface through which a user mayview the filtered plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 344, in which the at least one interfaceincludes at least one of a website, a mobile device interface, and anemail message.

The apparatus of paragraph 343, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation includes an electronic message.

The apparatus of paragraph 346, in which the electronic message includesat least one of an HTTP message, a database message, a SMS message, aMMS message, and an email message.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which the at least one secondrepresentation includes a representation of at least one member of thegroup.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which the at least one secondrepresentation includes a contact list.

The apparatus of paragraph 349, in which the at least one member of theat least one group includes at least one contact of the contact list.

The apparatus of paragraph 349, in which the contact list includes atleast one email contact list.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which for at least one member of theat least one group, the at least one second representation includes atleast one of a name, an email address, a login name, a mailing address,a telephone number, and a user identifier.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which the second element isconfigured to generate at least one recommendation based, at least inpart, on the filtered plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 353, in which the at least one recommendationincludes a first recommendation for at least one of a product of amerchant and a service of a service provider, and in which at least onefirst report represented by at least one representation of the filteredplurality of first representations is a report on the at least one ofthe product and the service.

The apparatus of paragraph 354, in which the at least one first reportincludes a positive report.

The apparatus of paragraph 354, in which the at least one first reportincludes a high rating of the at least one of the product and theservice.

The apparatus of paragraph 356, in which the high rating includes atleast one first rating that is higher than at least one second ratinggiven to at least one of a non-recommended product and a non-recommendedservice by at least one second report represented by at least one otherrepresentation of the plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 353, in which the second element isconfigured to transmit at least one third representation of the at leastone recommendation.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which the second element isconfigured to choose at least one of a chosen product of a merchant anda chosen service of a service provider based, at least in part, on thefiltered plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 359, in which at least one first reportrepresented by at least one representation of the filtered plurality offirst representations is a report on the at least one of the chosenproduct and the chosen service.

The apparatus of paragraph 360, in which the at least one first reportincludes a positive report.

The apparatus of paragraph 360, in which the at least one first reportincludes a high rating of the at least one of the chosen product and thechosen service.

The apparatus of paragraph 362, in which the high rating includes atleast one first rating that is higher than at least one second ratinggiven to at least one of a non-chosen product and a non-chosen serviceby at least one second report represented by at least one otherrepresentation of the plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 293, in which the first element includes atleast one input/output device and the second element includes at leastone processor.

An apparatus comprising: a first element configured to receive at leastone request and further configured to receive a plurality of firstrepresentations, in which each first representation represents a reportand an originator of the report; and configured to respond to the atleast one request by transmitting at least one second representation ofat least one subset of the plurality of first representations, in whichin the at least one subset does not include at least one firstrepresentations that represents an originator that is not a member of atleast one group.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the at least one subset doesnot include at least one first representation that represents anoriginator that is a member of the at least one group and thatrepresents a negative report.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which each first representation ofthe plurality of first representations includes a representation of atleast one of a respective target of the respective report and arespective target type of the respective report.

The apparatus of paragraph 367, in which the at least one subset doesnot include at least one first representation that represents at leastone of an undesired target and an undesired target type.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the first element is configuredto receive the plurality of first representations from a plurality ofsources.

The apparatus of paragraph 369, in which the plurality of sourcesincludes at least one individual.

The apparatus of paragraph 370, in which the at least one individualincludes at least one user of at least one website.

The apparatus of paragraph 369, in which the plurality of sourcesincludes at least one collector of reports.

The apparatus of paragraph 372, in which the at least one collector ofreports includes at least one website.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one electronic message.

The apparatus of paragraph 374, in which the electronic message includesat least one of an email message, an HTTP message, a database message,an MMS message, and an SMS message.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the at least one requestincludes an electronic message.

The apparatus of paragraph 376, in which the electronic message includesat least one of an email message, an HTTP message, a database message,an MMS message, and an SMS message.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which each first representation ofthe plurality of first representations includes a representation of atleast one of a respective target and a respective type of the respectivereport.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the respective includes atleast one of a product, a merchant, a service, and a service providerand the respective type includes at least one of a type of product, atype of merchant, a type of service, and a type of service provider.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which at least one firstrepresentation of the plurality of first representations comprises anindication of at last one purchase, the report represented by the atleast one first representation comprises a purchase by a purchaser, andthe originator represented by the at least one first representationcomprises the purchaser.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which at least one report representedby at least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one report on a service of a serviceprovider.

The apparatus of paragraph 381, in which the at least one reportincludes at least one rating of the service, review of the service, arecommendation for the service, a recommendation against the service,and a fact regarding the service.

The apparatus of paragraph 381, in which the service includes a deliveryservice.

The apparatus of paragraph 383, in which the at least one reportincludes at least one of a time taken by the delivery service, a ratingof the delivery service, a review of the delivery service, arecommendation for the delivery service, and a recommendation againstthe delivery service.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which at least one report representedby at least one first representation of the plurality of firstrepresentations includes at least one report on a product of a merchant.

The apparatus of paragraph 385, in which the at least one reportincludes at least one of a review of the product, a rating of theproduct, a recommendation for the product, a recommendation against theproduct, and a fact regarding the product.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the at least one group includesa social network of an entity.

The apparatus of paragraph 387, in which the entity includes a user.

The apparatus of paragraph 388, in which the user includes at least oneof a merchant and a service provider.

The apparatus of paragraph 388, in which the user includes a customer ofat least one of a merchant and a service provider.

The apparatus of paragraph 387, in which each member of the socialnetwork is related to at least one of other of the entity and anothermember of the social network.

The apparatus of paragraph 391, in which each member of the socialnetwork is a friend of at least one of the entity and another member ofthe social network.

The apparatus of paragraph 391, in which each member of the socialnetwork is a contact of at least one of the entity and another member ofthe social network.

The apparatus of paragraph 391, in which each member of the socialnetwork is a colleague of at least one of the entity and another memberof the social network.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the at least one group includesa reporter chosen by a user.

The apparatus of paragraph 395, in which the first element is furtherconfigured to receive a third representation of the chosen reporter fromthe user.

The apparatus of paragraph 396, in which the first element is furtherconfigured to add the chosen reviewer to the at least one group.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the chosen reviewer is at leastone of a professional reporter, a celebrity, and a reportingorganization.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the at least one group includesat least one first member having at least one desired characteristic.

The apparatus of paragraph 399, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes a geographic area.

The apparatus of paragraph 400, in which the geographic area includes ageographic area in which the user lives and a geographic area of a placeof business of the user.

The apparatus of paragraph 399, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes a profession.

The apparatus of paragraph 402, in which the profession includes a firstprofession in which the user works.

The apparatus of paragraph 399, in which the at least one desiredcharacteristic includes membership in an organization.

The apparatus of paragraph 404, in which the uses is a member of theorganization.

The apparatus of paragraph 399, in which the first element is furtherconfigured to receive at least one third representation of the desiredcharacteristic from the user.

The apparatus of paragraph 406, in which the at least one thirdrepresentation includes at least one electronic message.

The apparatus of paragraph 407, in which the at least one electronicmessage includes at least one of an HTTP message, a database message, aSMS message, a MMS message, and an email message.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the first element is configuredto transmit the at least one second representation to a user.

The apparatus of paragraph 409, in which the at least one secondrepresentation includes at least one electronic message.

The apparatus of paragraph 410, in which the at least one electronicmessage includes at least one of an HTTP message, an email, a databasemessage, a SMS message, and a MMS message.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the first element is configuredto display the at least one second representation through at least oneinterface.

The apparatus of paragraph 412, in which the at least one interfaceincludes at least one of a website, a mobile device interface, and anemail.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the at least one group includesat least one contact from a contact list of a user.

The apparatus of paragraph 414, in which the contact list includes atleast one email contact list.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the first element is configuredto receive at least one third representation of the at least one groupfrom a user.

The apparatus of paragraph 416, in which for at least one member of theat least one group, the at least one third representation includes atleast one of a name, an email address, a login name, a mailing address,a telephone number, and a user identifier.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the first element is configuredto maintain and generate the at least one group.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in the first element is configured tomake at least one recommendation based, at least in part, on the atleast one subset of the plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 419, in which the at least one recommendationincludes a first recommendation or at least one of a recommended productof merchant and a recommended service of a service provider, and inwhich at least one first report represented by at least one of the atleast one subset of the plurality of first representations is a reporton the at least one of the recommended product and the recommendedservice.

The apparatus of paragraph 420, in which the at least one reportincludes a positive report.

The apparatus of 420, in which the at least one first report includes ahigh rating of the at least one of the recommended product and therecommended service.

The apparatus of paragraph 421, in which the high rating includes atleast one first rating that is higher than at least one second ratinggiven to at least one of a non-recommended product and a non-recommendedservice by at least one second report represented by at least one otherrepresentation of the plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 419, in which the first element is configuredto present at least one third representation of the at least one of therecommended product and the recommended service to a user.

The apparatus of paragraph 424, in which the first element is configuredto display the at least one third recommendation through a userinterface.

The apparatus of paragraph 424, in which the first element is configuredto display the at least one third representation through a videodisplay.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the first element is configuredto choose at least one of a product of a chosen merchant and a chosenservice of a service provider based, at least in part, on the subset ofthe plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 427, in which at least one first reportrepresented by at least one representation of the subset of theplurality of first representations includes a report on the at least oneof the chosen product and the chosen service.

The apparatus of paragraph 428, in which the at least one first reportincludes a positive report.

The apparatus of paragraph 428, in which the at least one first reportincludes a high rating of the at least one of the chosen product and thechosen service.

The apparatus of paragraph 430, in which the high rating includes atleast one first rating that is higher than at least one second ratinggiven to at least one of a non-chosen product and a non-chosen serviceby at least one second report representation by at least one otherrepresentation of the plurality of first representations.

The apparatus of paragraph 365, in which the first element includes atleast one computer system.

Terms

A reference to “another embodiment” in describing an embodiment does notimply that the referenced embodiment is mutually exclusive with anotherembodiment (e.g., an embodiment described before the referencedembodiment), unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “including”, “comprising”, “having”, “containing”,“involving”, and variations thereof mean “including but not limited to”,unless expressly specified otherwise. The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean“one or more”, unless expressly specified otherwise. The term“plurality” means “two or more”, unless expressly specified otherwise.The term “herein” means “in the present application, including anythingwhich may be incorporated by reference”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The phrase “at least one of”, when such phrase modifies a plurality ofthings (such as an enumerated list of things) means any combination ofone or more of those things, unless expressly specified otherwise. Forexample, the phrase “at least one of a widget, a car and a wheel” meanseither (i) a widget, (ii) a car, (iii) a wheel, (iv) a widget and a car,(v) a widget and a wheel, (vi) a car and a wheel, or (vii) a widget, acar and a wheel.

The phrase “based on” does not mean “based only on”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. In other words, the phrase “based on” describesboth “based only on” and “based at least on”. Similarly, the phrase“based on” does not mean “based on the entirety of”, “based on all of”,or variations thereon, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The term “e.g.” and like terms mean “for example”, and thus does notlimit the term or phrase it explains. For example, in the sentence “thecomputer sends data (e.g., instructions, a data structure) over theInternet”, the term “e.g.” explains that “instructions” are an exampleof “data” that the computer may send over the Internet, and alsoexplains that “a data structure” is an example of “data” that thecomputer may send over the Internet. However, both “instructions” and “adata structure” are merely examples of “data”, and other things besides“instructions” and “a data structure” can be “data”.

The term “determining” and grammatical variants thereof (e.g., todetermine a price, determining a value, determine an object which meetsa certain criterion) is used in an extremely broad sense. The term“determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions and therefore“determining” can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving,investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database oranother data structure), ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining”can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g.,accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” caninclude resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

The term “determining” does not imply certainty or absolute precision,and therefore “determining” can include estimating, predicting, guessingand the like. The term “determining” does not imply that mathematicalprocessing must be performed, and does not imply that numerical methodsmust be used, and does not imply that an algorithm or process is used.The term “determining” does not imply that any particular device must beused. For example, a computer need not necessarily perform thedetermining.

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “theembodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “someembodiments”, “certain embodiments”, “one embodiment”, “anotherembodiment” and the like mean “one or more (but not all) embodiments ofthe present invention”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The term “report” and variations thereof used herein mean anyinformation concerning one or more products, services, merchants and/orservice providers. In some example implementations, a report may includea written or oral review and/or a quantitative or qualitative assessment(e.g., four stars, thumbs up, 98%). In some example implementations, areport may include a positive or negative recommendation. In someexample implementations, a report may include an indication of a fact,for example, a photograph of a product, a recording of speed (e.g.,delivery time), a measurement of weight, a recording of color, etc. Insome further example implementations, a report may include an indicationof a purchase of a good from a merchant and/or a service from a serviceprovider.

The term “electronic message” and variations thereof used herein shouldbe understood to mean any electronic representation of information. Forexample an HTTP message, an SMS message, a database message, an MMSmessage, a database message (e.g., SQL message) or any other series ofelectrical signals that represent information may be considered anelectronic message. An electronic message does not include informationidentifying a source and/or destination such as the informationtypically present in a TCP/IP header. Rather, the electronic messageshould be considered the body/content of the TCP/IP packet.

The term “representation” and variations thereof used herein inreference to a thing should be understood to refer to any indication ofat least a portion of the thing. A representation of a report, forexample, may include any indication of at least a portion of the report.In some embodiments, the thing may be determined by a person orcomputing device from the representation of the thing. In some exampleimplementations, a representation may include a copy of a thing in anyof a variety of formats, compressions, and/or encryptions. In anotherexample implementation, a representation may include an index or otheridentifier of a thing, such as a position in a list, an ID number, or adatabase key. A representation of a thing may be in the same ordifferent medium as an original thing. For example, a number “1” mayrepresent a sound, a color, a rating, or any other thing depending,e.g., on the configuration of a computing system configured to interpretthe number. A representation may be divided into a plurality ofportions, such as a plurality of electronic messages being transmittedfrom one location to another.

The term “collector of reports” and variations thereof used hereinshould be understood to mean any component or individual or set ofcomponents or individuals that collect/store at least one representationof a report. A collector of reports, for example, may include a databaseserver on which a database of reports is stored, the database stored onthe server, and a website (i.e., a web server and/or other componentsused to operate a website such as executed programs) through which auser may enter a report that is stored on the database server.

The term “monitor” and variations thereof should be understood to meanany component or individual or set of components or individualconfigured to monitor one or more events and generate a report based, atleast in part, on the one or more events. A monitor may include anexecuted computer program. A monitor (e.g., a program executed by one ormore computer systems), for example, may monitor the time needed toperform a delivery service and generate a report indicating that timewith the customer of the delivery service identified as the originatorof the report. For a second example, a monitor (e.g., a website) maymonitor purchases of products by a customer and generate reportsindicating the purchases with the customer identified as the originator.

The term “source” and variations thereof used herein should beunderstood to mean any intermediate and/or original provider of areport. For example, in some implementations, a source may include aperson that originally generates a report (e.g., by entering the reportinto a user interface). In some implementations, a source may include amonitor. In some implementations, a source may include a collector ofreports that may have collected reports from another collector ofreports, an originator, or a monitor. A source of a report may be thesame or different from an originator of a report.

The term “originator” and variations thereof used herein should beunderstood to mean an individual or organization responsible for thecreation of a report. An originator of a report may be but is notrequired to be different from a source of a report. For example, in someembodiments, an originator of a report may be an individual who createsthe report by entering it into a user interface. In some embodiments, anoriginator of a report may be an individual whose actions result in thereport being created (e.g., an individual that makes a purchaseresulting in the report being generated by a monitor, an individual thatplaces an order for service to be performed, such as delivery of aproduct, that results in a report being generated by a monitor).

The term “social network” and variations thereof used herein should beunderstood to mean a set of individuals, in which each individual of theset socially relates to the other members of the set through some socialcontact, either directly or indirectly. A social network of a particularindividual refers to a social network in which each member of the set issocially related to the individual either directly or through othermembers of the set. In some embodiments, the members may be friends,family, neighbors, colleagues, and/or acquaintances. In someembodiments, a social network of a particular individual may be limitedto members that are directly socially related to the individual orrelated through a maximum number of other members of the set.

A “user” of an embodiment of the present invention may includeindividuals, organizations and/or computer systems that receive from ortransmit to any component of an embodiment of the present inventioneither directly or indirectly. For example, a user may include a visitorto a website configured in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. A user may also include an originator of a report collectedby a collector of reports.

Forms of Sentences

Where a limitation of a first claim would cover one of a feature as wellas more than one of a feature (e.g., a limitation such as “at least onewidget” covers one widget as well as more than one widget), and where ina second claim that depends on the first claim, the second claim uses adefinite article “the” to refer to the limitation (e.g., “the widget”),this does not imply that the first claim covers only one of the feature,and this does not imply that the second claim covers only one of thefeature (e.g., “the widget” can cover both one widget and more than onewidget).

When an ordinal number (such as “first”, “second”, “third” and so on) isused as an adjective before a term, that ordinal number is used (unlessexpressly specified otherwise) merely to indicate a particular feature,such as to distinguish that particular feature from another feature thatis described by the same term or by a similar term. For example, a“first widget” may be so named merely to distinguish it from, e.g., a“second widget”. Thus, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers “first” and“second” before the term “widget” does not indicate any otherrelationship between the two widgets, and likewise does not indicate anyother characteristics of either or both widgets. For example, the mereusage of the ordinal numbers “first” and “second” before the term“widget” (1) does not indicate that either widget comes before or afterany other in order or location; (2) does not indicate that either widgetoccurs or acts before or after any other in time; and (3) does notindicate that either widget ranks above or below any other, as inimportance or quality. In addition, the mere usage of ordinal numbersdoes not define a numerical limit to the features identified with theordinal numbers (e.g., “a plurality of first widgets” indicates two ormore widgets that are distinct from other widgets). For example, themere usage of the ordinal numbers “first” and “second” before the term“widget” does not indicate that there must be no more than two widgets.

When a single device or article is described herein, more than onedevice / article (whether or not they cooperate) may alternatively beused in place of the single device/article that is described.Accordingly, the functionality that is described as being possessed by adevice may alternatively be possessed by more than one device/article(whether or not they cooperate).

Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein(whether or not they cooperate), a single device/article mayalternatively be used in place of the more than one device or articlethat is described. For example, a plurality of computer-based devicesmay be substituted with a single computer-based device. Accordingly, thevarious functionality that is described as being possessed by more thanone device or article may alternatively be possessed by a singledevice/article.

The functionality and/or the features of a single device that isdescribed may be alternatively embodied by one or more other deviceswhich are described but are not explicitly described as having suchfunctionality/features. Thus, other embodiments need not include thedescribed device itself, but rather can include the one or more otherdevices which would, in those other embodiments, have suchfunctionality/features.

Disclosed Examples and Terminology Are Not Limiting

Neither the Title (set forth at the beginning of the first page of thepresent application) nor the Abstract (set forth at the end of thepresent application) is to be taken as limiting in any way as the scopeof the present invention. An Abstract has been included in thisapplication merely because an Abstract of not more than 150 words isrequired under 37 C.F.R. § 1.72(b).

The title of the present application and headings of sections providedin the present application are for convenience only, and are not to betaken as limiting the disclosure in any way.

Numerous embodiments are presented for illustrative purposes only. Thedescribed embodiments are not, and are not intended to be, limiting inany sense. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that thepresent invention may be practiced with various modifications andalterations, such as structural, logical, software, and electricalmodifications. Although particular features of the present invention maybe described with reference to one or more particular embodiments and/ordrawings, it should be understood that such features are not limited tousage in the one or more particular embodiments or drawings withreference to which they are described, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

Devices that are described as in communication with each other need notbe in continuous communication with each other, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. On the contrary, such devices need only transmit toeach other as necessary or desirable, and may actually refrain fromexchanging data most of the time. For example, a machine incommunication with another machine via the Internet may not transmitdata to the other machine for long periods of time (e.g. weeks at atime). In addition, devices that are in communication with each othermay communicate directly or indirectly through one or moreintermediaries.

A description of an embodiment with several components or features doesnot imply that all or even any of such components/features are required.On the contrary, a variety of optional components are described toillustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the presentinvention. Unless otherwise specified explicitly, no component/featureis essential or required.

Although process steps, algorithms or the like may be described in aparticular sequential order, such processes may be configured to work indifferent orders. In other words, any sequence or order of steps thatmay be explicitly described does not necessarily indicate a requirementthat the steps be performed in that order. The steps of processesdescribed herein may be performed in any order. Further, some steps maybe performed simultaneously despite being described or implied asoccurring non-simultaneously (e.g., because one step is described afterthe other step). Moreover, the illustration of a process by itsdepiction in a drawing does not imply that the illustrated process isexclusive of other variations and modifications thereto, does not implythat the illustrated process or any of its steps are necessary to thepresent invention, and does not imply that the illustrated process ispreferred.

Although a process may be described as including a plurality of steps,that does not imply that all or any of the steps are preferred,essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of thepresent invention may include other processes that omit some or all ofthe described steps. Unless otherwise specified explicitly, no step isessential or required.

Although a process or product may be described singly or withoutreference to other processes or products, in some embodiments theprocess or product may interact with other processes or products. Forexample, such interaction may include linking one business model toanother business model. Such interaction may be provided to enhance theflexibility or desirability of the process.

An enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does notimply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unlessexpressly specified otherwise. Likewise, an enumerated list of items(which may or may not be numbered) does not imply that any or all of theitems are comprehensive of any category, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. For example, the enumerated list “a computer, a laptop, aPDA” does not imply that any or all of the three items of that list aremutually exclusive and does not imply that any or all of the three itemsof that list are comprehensive of any category. Also, an enumerated listof items (which may or may not be numbered) does not imply that any orall of the items are equivalent to each other or readily substituted foreach other.

Computing

It should be appreciated that the various processes described herein maybe implemented by, e.g., appropriately programmed computer systems,e.g., general purpose computers 101 and/or computing devices 103,illustrated in FIG. 1. A computing device 103 may include a specializedor general purpose computing device such as a cellular phone, a personaldigital assistant, and/or any other portable or non-portable computingsystem that is not a general purpose computer.

A “processor” 105 means one or more microprocessors, central processingunits (CPUs), computing devices, microcontrollers, digital signalprocessors, application specific integrated circuits, or like devices orany combination thereof. A processor may include an Intel® Pentium®,Centrino®, and/or Core® processor. Typically a processor 105 willreceive instructions (e.g., from a memory or like device), and executethose instructions, thereby performing one or more processes defined bythose instructions.

Thus a description of a process is likewise a description of anapparatus for performing the process. The apparatus that performs theprocess may include, e.g., a processor 105 and those input devicesand/output output devices (e.g., a keyboard 107, mouse, trackball,microphone, touch screen, printing device, display screen 109, speaker,network interface 111) that are appropriate to perform the process.

Further, programs (i.e., collections of instructions) that implementsuch methods (as well as other types of data) may be stored andtransmitted using a variety of media (e.g., machine-readable media) in anumber of manners. In some embodiments, hard-wired circuitry or customhardware may be used in place of, or in combination with, some or all ofthe software instructions that can implement the processes of variousembodiments. Thus, various combinations of hardware and software may beused instead of software only.

In some embodiments, the processor 105 may execute an operating systemwhich may include, for example, the Windows-based operating systems(e.g., Windows NT, Windows 2000 (Windows ME), Windows XP, Windows Vistaoperating systems) available from the Microsoft Corporation, MAC OSSystem X operating system available from Apple Computer, one or more ofthe Linux-based operating system distributions (e.g., the EnterpriseLinux operating system available from Red Hat Inc.), the Solarisoperating system available from Sun Microsystems, or UNIX operatingsystems available from various sources. Many other operating systems maybe used, and the invention is not limited to any particular operatingsystem.

The processor and operating system together may define a computerplatform for which programs stored on machine-readable medium may bewritten in various programming languages, including an object-orientedprogramming language, such as SmallTalk, Java, C++, Ada, Python, or C#(C-Sharp), functional programming languages, scripting programminglanguages, and/or logical programming languages. Various aspects of theinvention may be implemented in a non-programmed environment (e.g.,documents created in HTML, XML or other format that, when viewed in awindow of a browser program, render aspects of a GUI or perform otherfunctions).

Various embodiments of the present invention may include in a networkenvironment including one or more computing systems (e.g., generalpurpose computers 101, other computing devices 103) in communicationthrough one or more communication networks (e.g., a LAN 119, theInternet 121). The computer systems may communicate directly orindirectly, via any wired or wireless medium (e.g. the Internet 121, LAN119, WAN or Ethernet, Token Ring, a telephone line, a cable line, aradio channel, an optical communications line, commercial on-lineservice providers, bulletin board systems, a satellite communicationslink, cellular telephone networks, a WI-FJ network, a Bluetoothcommunication link, a combination of any of the above).

Various aspects of the invention (e.g., program elements stored onmachine-readable media and executable by one or more processors) may bedistributed among one or more computer systems configured to provide aservice to one or more client computer systems. For example, in someembodiments, a plurality of computing systems may be organized as acentral authority connected to a LAN of other communication network.These computing systems may receive requests and other information fromremote computing systems through the Internet 121.

In some embodiments of the present invention, one or more computersystem may act as a database server that stores representations ofreports, representations of groups, information regarding users, and/orany other desired information. The database server may respond todatabase requests such as structured query language (SQL) queries byproviding access to a database (e.g., searching of the database, writingto the database).

In some embodiments, one or more computer systems may act as a webserver. A web server may be configured to respond to network requests(e.g., HTTP messages) from web browsers executed by remote computersystems. For example, a web browser 123 executed by a computing systemmay direct an HTTP message through the Internet 121 to an edge routingdevice 125 connected to the LAN 119. The edge routing 125 device may beconfigured to direct the HTTP message to the web server through the LAN119. The web server may provide a response (e.g., an HTML document) tothe web browser 123 through the edge routing device 125 and Internet121. The web server may be configured to communicate with other computersystems (e.g., a database server) to generate responses to such areceived request.

In some embodiments, a server computer or centralized authority may notbe necessary or desirable. For example, the present invention may, in anembodiment, be practiced on one or more computing devices without acentral authority. In such an embodiment, any functions described hereinas performed by a server or data described as stored on a generalpurpose computer may instead be performed by or stored on one or moresuch computing devices.

The term “machine-readable medium” refers to any medium thatparticipates in providing data (e.g., instructions, data structures)which may be read by a computer, a processor or a like device. Such amedium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatilemedia, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile mediainclude, for example, optical or magnetic disks 113 and other persistentmemory. Volatile media include dynamic random access memory 115 (DRAM),which typically constitutes the main memory. Transmission media includecoaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires thatcomprise a system bus 117 coupled to the processor. Transmission mediamay include or convey acoustic waves, light waves and electromagneticemissions, such as those generated during radio frequency (RF) andinfrared (IR) data communications. Common forms of machine-readablemedia include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk,a magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, a DVD, any otheroptical medium, punch cards, a paper tape, any other physical mediumwith patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, anyother memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter,or any other medium from which a computer can read.

Various forms of machine-readable media may be involved in carrying data(e.g., sequences of instructions) to a processor. For example, data maybe (i) delivered from RAM to a processor; (ii) carried over a wirelesstransmission medium; (iii) formatted and/or transmitted according tonumerous formats, standards or protocols, such as Ethernet (or IEEE802.3), SAP, ATP, Bluetooth™, and TCP/IP, TDMA, CDMA, and 3G; and/or(iv) encrypted to ensure privacy or prevent fraud in any of a variety ofways well known in the art.

Thus a description of a process is likewise a description of amachine-readable medium storing a program for performing the process.The machine-readable medium can store (in any appropriate format) thoseprogram elements that are appropriate to perform the process.

Where a process is described, in some embodiments the process mayoperate without any user intervention. In other embodiments, the processincludes some human intervention (e.g., a step is performed by or withthe assistance of a human).

Just as the description of various steps in a process does not indicatethat all the described steps are required, embodiments of an apparatusmay include one or more computer systems operable to perform some (butnot necessarily all) of the described process.

Likewise, just as the description of various steps in a process does notindicate that all the described steps are required, embodiments of amachine-readable medium storing a program or data structure include amachine-readable medium storing a program that, when executed, can causeone or more processors to perform some (but not necessarily all) of thedescribed process.

Where databases are described, it will be understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art that (i) alternative database structures to thosedescribed may be readily employed, and (ii) other memory structuresbesides databases may be readily employed. Any illustrations ordescriptions of any sample databases presented herein are illustrativearrangements for stored representations of information. Any number ofother arrangements may be employed besides those suggested by, e.g.,tables illustrated in drawings or elsewhere. Similarly, any illustratedentries of the databases represent exemplary information only; one ofordinary skill in the art will understand that the number and content ofthe entries can be different from those described herein. Further,despite any depiction of the databases as tables, other formats(including relational databases, object-based models and/or distributeddatabases) could be used to store and manipulate the data typesdescribed herein. Likewise, object methods or behaviors of a databasecan be used to implement processes described herein. In addition, thedatabases may, in a known manner, be stored locally or remotely from adevice which accesses data in such a database.

Continuing Applications

The present disclosure provides, to one of ordinary skill in the art, anenabling description of several embodiments and/or inventions. Some ofthese embodiments and/or inventions may not be claimed in the presentapplication, but may nevertheless be claimed in one or more continuingapplications that claim the benefit of priority of the presentapplication. Applicants may file additional applications to pursuepatents for subject matter that has been disclosed and enabled but notclaimed in the present application.

Exemplary Embodiments

Methods and apparatus related to filtering reports based on groups aredescribed herein. For example, some embodiments of the present inventionrelate to filtering a plurality of reports to exclude those reports thatare not originated by members of a desired group (e.g., a socialnetwork). By filtering reports in this way, a viewer of the reportseasily focus on those reports originated by preferred sources, such asfriends and relatives, and ignore those reports originated by untrustedor unknown sources.

FIG. 2 illustrates a process 200, beginning at block 201, in accordancewith some embodiments of the present invention (e.g., may be performedby a computing system as described above, may be stored on amachine-readable medium as described above). Process 200 includesreceiving a plurality of representations, wherein each representationrepresents at least one respective report (indicated at block 203);receiving at least one representation of a group (indicated at block205); receiving a request to filter the plurality of representations(indicated at block 207); filtering the plurality of representationsbased, at least in part, on the group (indicated at block 209); andproviding a representation of the filtered plurality of representationsto at least one user (indicated at block 211).

As indicated at block 203, process 200 may include receiving a pluralityof representations, wherein each representation of the plurality ofrepresentations representing a respective report. The plurality ofrepresentations may be received from a plurality of sources. In someembodiments, the sources may include individuals (e.g., users of awebsite may enter the report through a web browser), a monitor of anevent (e.g., a website configured to transmit a representation of areport upon a purchase of a product through the website) and/orcollectors of reports (e.g., websites or database that may collectreports). In some embodiments, a webcrawler may search a plurality ofcollectors or reports to obtain one or more representations of theplurality of representations. It should be recognized that someembodiments of process 200 may not receive any representations ofreports, but rather may begin a process already in possession of arepresentations of reports.

In some embodiments, each representation of the plurality ofrepresentations may include one or more electronic messages. Theelectronic messages may be in any format including standard machinereadable formats such as SQL or other database messages, MMS messages,SMS messages, email messages, and HTTP messages. Individuals may sendthe representations in any format and through any means includingthrough a user interface such as a website accessible through theInternet by a standard web browser, through a mobile device interface,such as a cellular phone, and/or through an email client. In someembodiments, a report may be transmitted from a collector of reports ora monitor through a database message, e.g., in response to a databasequery sent to the collector of reports or as a write request to thedatabase from the monitor.

In some embodiments, a report may be received from a monitor after anoccurrence of a trigger event (e.g., a purchase of a product, a deliveryof a good). For example, in one embodiment, a time when an order isreceived from a user (e.g., entered through a user interface by theuser) and a time when the order is fulfilled (e.g., when a product isdeliver, when a service is completed) may be monitored. A report may begenerated by the monitor indicating the time needed to fill the order.In some embodiments, the monitor may then transmit a representation ofthe report to one or more computer systems performing process 200. For asecond example, a purchase of a product or service (e.g., though a userinterface by a user) may trigger a transmission of a representation of areport indicating the occurrence of the purchase. It should beunderstood that in some embodiments, the same computer system or systemsmay act as a monitor and perform part or all of process 200.

In some embodiments, a representation of a report may also represent anoriginator of the report. By connecting originators to reports in such away, a report may be attributed to an individual who is most responsiblefor the report and who may verify the report, and reports may be trackedand/or filtered based on the originators.

In some embodiments, a representation of a report may also represent atarget of the report. A target of the report may include a product,service, service provide, and/or merchant which the report is about. Forexample, a target of a report indicating a purchase of a product mayinclude a representation of the product.

After receiving each representation of a respective report, at least aportion of the content of the report may be stored, for example, on amachine-readable medium. In some embodiments, the at least a portion ofthe report may be stored in a database table on a database server. Oneexample of a database table in which the at least a portion of thereport may be stored according to some embodiments of the presentinvention is illustrated in FIG. 3A. As illustrated for examples only,the at least a portion of the report may include phrases (e.g., “I likethis product”), facts describing the target (e.g., 7 pounds), ratings(e.g., rating1), or an indication of whether or not a target isrecommended. In some embodiments, the at least a portion of the contentmay be limited to one type of information (e.g., only ratings, onlyfacts, only written phrases). As illustrated, each at least a portion ofa report may be stored in a database table along with a unique ID thatmay be used to identify the report, an identification of an originatorof the report, and/or an identification of a target of the report. Itshould be understood that this table is an example only and that otherembodiments may include more or fewer database columns.

As indicated in block 205, process 200 may include receiving at leastone representation of a group. As discussed with respect to theplurality of representations of the plurality of reports, the at leaston representation of a group may include one or more electronicmessages. The electronic messages may be in any format includingstandard machine readable formats such as SQL or other databasemessages, MMS messages, SMS messages, email messages, and HTTP messages.It should be recognized that some embodiments of process 200 may notreceive any representations of a group, but rather may begin a processalready in possession of the representation of the group.

In some embodiments, the group may include a social network. Forexample, in some embodiments, the group may include a social network ofa user of a website or computing device. The social network may be thesocial network of a customer (e.g., an individual choosing to purchase aproduct or service from a merchant or service provider) or a socialnetwork of a merchant or service provider. In some embodiments, arepresentation of the social network or other group associated with theuser may include a representation of the user.

Some embodiments of the present invention may be configured to maintainone or more groups. For example, FIG. 3B illustrates a database tablethat may be used by some embodiments of the present invention tomaintain a group and/or track users. As illustrated, each row of thetable is associated with one user. Each row includes elements indicatinga unique identifier for the user that may be used to identify the user,a name of the user, and login information, such as a login name andpassword that may be used to log the user into and/or securely identifythe user to a computer system on which some portion of the process 200may be performed (e.g., through a website or other user interface). Insome embodiments, alternative or additional information may be includedin such a database table, including identification information such asan email address, a telephone number, a mailing address, and/or anyother information that may identify the user. In some embodiments, userinformation may be obtained from one or more collectors of reportsand/or monitors. A database table may be configured to store a set ofinformation that is compatible with user information collected by theone or more collectors of reports and/or monitors. For example, if afirst collector of reports associates reports only with email addressesand a second collector of reports associates reports only with names,some embodiments of the present invention may include a database thatcan associate each user with either a name or an email address.

As illustrated in the table of FIG. 3B, an entry for a user may includean element identifying at least some of the other users in the user'ssocial network. For example, User1 in the illustrated table is networkedto both User4 and User3, and likewise, User3 and User4 are eachnetworked to User1. A social network of a user may be generated bydetermining the other users to which the user is networked. A socialnetwork may also include any number of successive levels of networkusers (e.g., the users to which the other users are network). In someembodiments, the number of successive levels may be determined by asystem administrator. In some embodiments, an indication of the numberof successive levels may be included in the representation of the group.

In some embodiments, a social network of a user may be expandedunilaterally by the user. For example, a first user may request that asecond user be added to the first user's social network. When therequest is received, the second user may be added to the first user'ssocial network, for example by adding the second user to the firstuser's networked users list in the table of FIG. 3A. In someembodiments, the first user may also be added to the second user'snetworked users list.

In some embodiments, a social network of a user may be expandedbilaterally. For example, a first user may request a second user beadded to the first user's social network. After receiving that request,an embodiment of the present invention may request acceptance from thesecond user (e.g., transmit a request for agreement to being added tothe first user's social network). If the second user agrees to join thefirst user's social network, such an embodiment may then add the seconduser to the first user's social network (e.g., by adding the second userto the first user's networked users list). In some embodiments, thefirst user may also be added to the second user's social network.

In some embodiments, a second user may request to be added to a firstuser's social network. As described above, some embodiments may add sucha user unilaterally. As described above, some embodiments may add such auser bilaterally.

Limiting the expansion of a social network to bilateral expansion mayhelp ensure that each member of a social network is, in fact, sociallyrelated to another member of the social network. The socialrelationships between members may include, for example, one or more offriends, family, contacts, acquaintances, neighbors and colleagues. Insome embodiments, the social relationships may be limited to one or moreof these or other categories (e.g., a family social network, aneighborhood social network, etc.).

In some embodiments that maintain a database table similar to the oneillustrated in FIG. 3B, a representation of a group (e.g., socialnetwork) may include a representation of a user. As discussed above, thesocial network associated with that user may be derived from theidentity of the user by searching the networked users column of thetable of FIG. 3B. The representation of the user may include anyinformation from which the user's identity may be derived, including, invarious embodiments, a name, an email address, a login name, a useridentifier (e.g., id number), a telephone number, a mailing address,and/or any other information that may identify the user.

In some embodiments, other ways of maintaining and/or generating asocial network may be additionally or alternatively employed. Forexample, in some embodiments, a contact list (e.g., an email contactlist such as the one used by Microsoft® Outlook®, a telephone numberlist maintained on a cellular telephone) may be used to maintain andidentify a user's social network. In such embodiments, the contact listmay be maintained either on a user's personal computing device (e.g., apersonal computer, a cellular phone) and/or on a server computer. Insome embodiments, filtering of reports based on the group, as discussedbelow, may occur by the user's personal computing device and/or by theserver computer.

In some embodiments, a group may additionally or alternatively includeone or more chosen reporters. A chosen reporter may include anyindividual or origination that originates a report regardless of whetherthat chosen reporter is socially related to any other user. In someembodiments, a chosen reporter may include a celebrity, a professionalreporter, and/or a reporting organization (e.g., Consumer Reports®. Byallowing such chosen reporters outside of a user's social network to beadded to a group, such embodiments may allow representations of reportsfrom originators that may not be socially related to a user to beincluded in a representation of a filtered plurality of representationsof reports if the reports are nonetheless originated by a trustedoriginator.

The representation of the group received by some embodiments may includea representation of a chosen reporter. In some embodiments, a reporterof the embodiment may choose such reporters through a user interface. Insome embodiments, choosing a user may be similar to unilaterally addinga member to a social network. For example, a user may choose one or morereporters, submit a request to add those chosen reporters to a group ofchosen reporters, an embodiment of the invention may receive thatrequest and add the chosen reporters to a group of chosen reportersassociated with the user. In some embodiments, for example, asillustrated in the table of FIG. 3B, such users may be added to a listof chosen users in a database table.

As another example of a method of maintaining a group, some embodimentsmay maintain a group based on one or more desired characteristics. Forexample, a group may include only members having one or more desiredcharacteristics. In such embodiments, a representation of a group mayinclude a representation of the one or more desired characteristics. Insome embodiments the desired characteristics may include a geographiclocation such as a place of business or a place in which a user lives, aprofession such as a profession in which a user who transmits therepresentation of the desired characteristic works, a membership in anorganization such as an organization (e.g., company club, etc.) in whicha user who transmits the representations of the desired characteristicis a member, and/or any other desired characteristics, includingdemographic information such as gender, income, marital status, etc.

As illustrated in the table of FIG. 3B, characteristics associated witheach user may be recorded in a database table. In some embodiments, forexample, a user of such a computer system (e.g., a user of a website orother user interface) may be asked to provide such characteristics uponsigning up with the computer system through a user interface (e.g., awebsite). The table of FIG. 3B may be searched to find users havingdesired characteristics by searching this list of characteristics forthe desired characteristics.

As indicated in block 207, process 200 may include receiving a requestto filter the plurality of representations from a user. In someembodiments, a user may transmit such a request through a userinterface, for example, by clicking on a button or link on a website ora button of a portable computing device. In some embodiments, receivingthe request and the representation of the group may be part of a singleact rather than separate acts. For example, the request may include therepresentation of the group.

As indicated in block 209, process 200 may include filtering theplurality of representations based, at lease in part, on the group. Insome embodiments, filtering the plurality of representations may includeexcluding representations that represent reports not originated by amember of the group from a new representation of reports. FIG. 4illustrates a process 400 that begins at block 401 and may be performedto filter the plurality of representations in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention. Process 400 includes determiningmembers of the group (indicated at block 403), determining whichrepresentations of the plurality of representations represent arespective report originated by at least one of the members of the group(indicated at block 405), and generating a representation of thedetermined respective reports or representations of reports (indicatedat block 407).

As indicated in block 403, process 400 may include determining membersof the group. As described above, members of a group may be determinedin some embodiments by reference to a database table such as the tableillustrated in FIG. 3B (e.g., through a database query). In otherembodiments, members of the group may be determined in any method fromany information, for example, from a different database table, from acontact list, etc. These determined members make up a set of members.

As indicated in block 405, process 400 may include determining whichrepresentations of the plurality of representations of reports representreports originated by any of the members of the set of members. Forexample, this may be performed by comparing the originator of eachreport (e.g., from the database table of FIG. 3A) to the set of members.In some embodiments, this may be performed through one or more databasequeries.

As indicated in block 407, process 400 may include generating arepresentation of these determined (i.e., filtered) respective reportsor representations of reports. In some embodiments, the representationmay include a representation of each of the plurality of representationshaving an originator that is a member of the group. The representationmay be comprised of one or more electronic messages. The electronicmessages may be in any format including standard machine readableformats such as SQL or other database messages, MMS messages, SMSmessages, email messages, and HTTP messages. Process 400 may end atblock 409.

In some embodiments, a process of filtering the representations mayinclude filtering representations of negative reports. Such embodimentsmay include additional acts of determining if a report is positive(e.g., a high rating, a recommendation for a thing, etc.) or negative (alow rating, a recommendation against a thing, etc.). The representationsof the negative reports may be excluded from the representation of thedetermined plurality of representations (e.g., at block 407).

Returning to FIG. 2, as indicated in block 211, process 200 may includeproviding the representation of the filtered plurality ofrepresentations to the at least one user. In some embodiments, therepresentation may be provided by transmitting one or more electronicmessages to one or more computing systems. In some embodiments, therepresentation may include or be provided through a user interface, suchas a user interface transmitted through the Internet or anothercommunication network. For example, the user interface may include awebsite, a mobile device interface, and/or an email message. In someembodiments, the representation may be provided to the user bypresenting the representation through a video display screen (e.g., acomputer monitor, a portable device display) Process 200 may end atblock 213.

Some embodiments of the invention may include an act of making arecommendation to the user based on the filtered plurality ofrepresentations. The recommendation may be provided to the user insteadof or in addition to the representation of the filtered plurality ofrepresentations. The recommendation may include a recommendation for aproduct, merchant, service and/or service provider. The product,merchant, service, and/or service provider may be a target of at leastone report represented by at least one representation of the filteredplurality of representations. The at least one report may be a positivereport (e.g., a recommendation for a product, a high rating). In someembodiments, the recommendation may be for a target associated with thelargest number of positive reports represented by the filtered pluralityof representations. The recommendation may be for a target associatedwith a highest rating or highest aggregate rating of all the targetsassociated with the filtered plurality of representations.

Some embodiments of the present invention may include an act of choosinga product, service, merchant, and/or service provider based, at least inpart, on the filtered plurality of representations. The product,service, merchant, and/or service provider may be chosen instead of orin addition to the making of a recommendation and/or thetransmission/presentation of the filtered plurality of representations.The chosen product, merchant, service, and/or service provider may be atarget of at least one report represented by at least one representationof the filtered plurality of representations. The target, for example,may be purchased from a merchant or service provider automatically, or aservice or product may be purchased from a target automatically. In someembodiments, a user, after receiving a recommendation and/or arepresentation of the filtered plurality of representations may chooseone or more of the targets represented by the filtered plurality ofrepresentations through a user interface, such as a website. In someembodiments, the chosen target may be associated with the largest numberof positive reports represented by the filtered plurality ofrepresentations. The target may be associated with a highest rating orhighest aggregate rating of all the targets associated with the filteredplurality of representations.

Some embodiments of the present invention may include an act of sortingthe filtered plurality of representations. In some embodiments, forexample, sorting may be performed, for example, based on a degree of arecommendation (e.g., the highest and/or lowest ratings may be placedfirst in a list of reports). In some embodiments, for example, sortingmay be performed, for example, based on an originator's social distancefrom a user (e.g., reports generated by originators most closely relatedto the user in a social network may be listed before reports from othermembers of the social network).

In some embodiments of the present invention, a representation of thefiltered plurality of reports may include a representation of all of theplurality of reports (or all of the plurality of reports about a targetor target type). In such embodiments, the representation of the filteredplurality of reports may include a group identifier for each report. Thegroup identifier may indicate which reports were originated by member ofthe group (e.g., a star in a website representation of the reports maybe placed next to each report originated by a member of the group.) Insome embodiments, the group identifier may include a social distanceidentifier. The social distance identifier may indicate a socialdistance between a user of an embodiment and the originator of arespective report (e.g., five stars may be placed next to reportsoriginated by the closes members of a social network, few stars may beplaced next to further members of the social network, and no stars maybe placed next to reports not originated by members of the socialnetwork). In some embodiments, a group identifier or social networkidentifier may include a change to a font (e.g., bolded, underlined, orlarger fonts may indicate an originator that is a member of the group).

Example In The Delivery Domain

As one example of the present invention in operation, consider choosinga delivery service provider (e.g., UPS) from a market website (e.g.,eBay). The market website may allow a plurality of merchants to sellproducts to a plurality of customers over the Internet. A plurality ofthird-party delivery service providers may offer the service ofdelivering products from the merchants to the customers.

In one example of such a website, a customer may choose which deliveryservice provider to use. After delivery is complete, the customer may beasked to provide a report regarding the delivery service (e.g., arating, a written description, a recommendation for or against, etc.).Additionally or alternatively, the time when the order is placed withthe delivery service provider and the time when the product is deliveredto the customer may be monitored and a report (e.g., with the customeras the originator) may be generated indicating the time taken to providethe delivery service. In some implementations, the customer's own choiceof using one delivery service provider may be monitored and a report maybe generated indicating that choice with the customer identified as anoriginator.

Customers using such a market website may be able to view previouscustomer reports before choosing which delivery service provider tochoose. To narrow the reports to those that may be most relevant orimportant to these customers, the reports may be filtered based on somedesired group (e.g., a social network) so that only those reports thatare associated with originators in the group are viewed. In someimplementations, the website may recommend one delivery service providerthat has been used most by members of the group, recommended most bymembers of the group, and/or received a highest aggregate rating frommembers of the group. In some embodiments, the delivery service providermay be chosen automatically based on the reports of users in the group.

In some embodiments, the market website may maintain a social network asdescribed above by responding to user input, such a requests to addmembers to a social network. In some embodiments, the social network orother group may be determined from a contact list in an email program.In such embodiments, the reports stored by the system may be filtered toonly those that are associated with an email address or other contactidentifier in the contact list.

In other embodiments, a merchant may choose the delivery serviceprovider rather than the customer. The merchant may receive filteredreports or recommendations based on users in the merchant's socialnetwork, a customer's social network or some third individuals socialnetwork or group (e.g., people that live near the customer, priorcustomers of the merchant) to make the choice of which delivery serviceprovider to use. In some implementations, the website may choose thedelivery service provider automatically.

Although the previous example was given in reference to reportsregarding delivery service providers, it should be understood that thepresent invention is not limited to that set of reports. Rather, thepresent invention may be used with any product, merchant, serviceprovider, and/or merchant.

Furthermore, although the previous example was described in terms of asingle type of target (e.g., a delivery service provider), someembodiments may include multiple types of targets. The targets mayinclude any combination of product, service, service providers, and/ormerchants. To accommodate multiple types of targets, some embodiments ofthe present invention may track a target type. For example, a table suchas the table illustrated in FIG. 3C illustrates one database table thatmay be used in tracking types of targets. In this example, two laptopsand a delivery service provider are the types of targets that have beenreported on.

In such an embodiment, the types of targets may be determined by asystem administrator or an originator of a report. For example, anadministrator or originator may choose a target type through a userinterface when generating or receiving a report. The database entriesmay then be generated to associate the reports with a target type. Theavailable types of targets that may be chosen through the user interfacemay be determined by the administrator.

In some embodiments, a request to filter the plurality ofrepresentations, as indicated in block 207 described above, may includea representation of a desired target type. The process of filteringreports, as indicated in block 209 and process 400, may exclude reportsassociated with target types that do not match the desired target type.

In some embodiments, target types may be further divided into subtypes.For example, a main type may include computers, and a subtype mayinclude laptop computers. In such embodiments, users may request reportsat a desired level of specificity (e.g., reports for a specific product,reports for a specific subtype of product, or reports for a broad typeof product). In some embodiments, any number of subtype levels may beincluded.

Having thus described several aspects of at least one embodiment of thisinvention, it is to be appreciated various alterations, modifications,and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Suchalterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part ofthis disclosure, and are intended to be within the scope of theinvention. Accordingly, the foregoing description and drawings are byway of example only.

Guidelines for Interpreting the Present Application

The following sections provide a guide to interpreting the presentapplication.

Terms

The term “product” means any machine, manufacture and/or composition ofmatter, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The term “process” means any process, algorithm, method or the like,unless expressly specified otherwise.

Each process (whether called a method, algorithm or otherwise)inherently includes one or more steps, and therefore all references to a“step” or “steps” of a process have an inherent antecedent basis in themere recitation of the term ‘process’ or a like term. Accordingly, anyreference in a claim to a ‘step’ or ‘steps’ of a process has sufficientantecedent basis.

The term “invention” and the like mean “the one or more inventionsdisclosed in this application”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “theembodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “someembodiments”, “certain embodiments”, “one embodiment”, “anotherembodiment” and the like mean “one or more (but not all) embodiments ofthe disclosed invention(s)”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The term “variation” of an invention means an embodiment of theinvention, unless expressly specified otherwise.

A reference to “another embodiment” in describing an embodiment does notimply that the referenced embodiment is mutually exclusive with anotherembodiment (e.g., an embodiment described before the referencedembodiment), unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “including”, “comprising” and variations thereof mean“including but not limited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

The term “plurality” means “two or more”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The term “herein” means “in the present application, including anythingwhich may be incorporated by reference”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The phrase “at least one of”, when such phrase modifies a plurality ofthings (such as an enumerated list of things) means any combination ofone or more of those things, unless expressly specified otherwise. Forexample, the phrase “at least one of a widget, a car and a wheel” meanseither (i) a widget, (ii) a car, (iii) a wheel, (iv) a widget and a car,(v) a widget and a wheel, (vi) a car and a wheel, or (vii) a widget, acar and a wheel. The phrase “at least one of”, when such phrase modifiesa plurality of things does not mean “one of each of” the plurality ofthings.

Numerical terms such as “one”, “two”, etc. when used as cardinal numbersto indicate quantity of something (e.g., one widget, two widgets), meanthe quantity indicated by that numerical term, but do not mean at leastthe quantity indicated by that numerical term. For example, the phrase“one widget” does not mean “at least one widget”, and therefore thephrase “one widget” does not cover, e.g., two widgets.

The phrase “based on” does not mean “based only on”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. In other words, the phrase “based on” describesboth “based only on” and “based at least on”. The phrase “based at leaston” is equivalent to the phrase “based at least in part on”.

The term “represent” and like terms are not exclusive, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. For example, the term “represents” do not mean“represents only”, unless expressly specified otherwise. In other words,the phrase “the data represents a credit card number” describes both“the data represents only a credit card number” and “the data representsa credit card number and the data also represents something else”.

The term “whereby” is used herein only to precede a clause or other setof words that express only the intended result, objective or consequenceof something that is previously and explicitly recited. Thus, when theterm “whereby” is used in a claim, the clause or other words that theterm “whereby” modifies do not establish specific further limitations ofthe claim or otherwise restricts the meaning or scope of the claim.

The term “e.g.” and like terms mean “for example”, and thus does notlimit the term or phrase it explains. For example, in the sentence “thecomputer sends data (e.g., instructions, a data structure) over theInternet”, the term “e.g.” explains that “instructions” are an exampleof “data” that the computer may send over the Internet, and alsoexplains that “a data structure” is an example of “data” that thecomputer may send over the Internet. However, both “instructions” and “adata structure” are merely examples of “data”, and other things besides“instructions” and “a data structure” can be “data”.

The term “respective” and like terms mean “taken individually”. Thus iftwo or more things have “respective” characteristics, then each suchthing has its own characteristic, and these characteristics can bedifferent from each other but need not be. For example, the phrase “eachof two machines has a respective function” means that the first suchmachine has a function and the second such machine has a function aswell. The function of the first machine may or may not be the same asthe function of the second machine.

The term “i.e.” and like terms mean “that is”, and thus limits the termor phrase it explains. For example, in the sentence “the computer sendsdata (i.e., instructions) over the Internet”, the term “i.e.” explainsthat “instructions” are the “data” that the computer sends over theInternet.

Any given numerical range shall include whole and fractions of numberswithin the range. For example, the range “1 to 10” shall be interpretedto specifically include whole numbers between 1 and 10 (e.g., 1, 2, 3,4, . . . 9) and non-whole numbers (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, . . . 1.9).

Where two or more terms or phrases are synonymous (e.g., because of anexplicit statement that the terms or phrases are synonymous), instancesof one such term/phrase does not mean instances of another suchterm/phrase must have a different meaning. For example, where astatement renders the meaning of “including” to be synonymous with“including but not limited to”, the mere usage of the phrase “includingbut not limited to” does not mean that the term “including” meanssomething other than “including but not limited to”.

Determining

The term “determining” and grammatical variants thereof (e.g., todetermine a price, determining a value, determine an object which meetsa certain criterion) is used in an extremely broad sense. The term“determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions and therefore“determining” can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving,investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database oranother data structure), ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining”can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g.,accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” caninclude resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

The term “determining” does not imply certainty or absolute precision,and therefore “determining” can include estimating, extrapolating,predicting, guessing and the like.

The term “determining” does not imply that mathematical processing mustbe performed, and does not imply that numerical methods must be used,and does not imply that an algorithm or process is used.

The term “determining” does not imply that any particular device must beused. For example, a computer need not necessarily perform thedetermining.

Forms of Sentences

Where a limitation of a first claim would cover one of a feature as wellas more than one of a feature (e.g., a limitation such as “at least onewidget” covers one widget as well as more than one widget), and where ina second claim that depends on the first claim, the second claim uses adefinite article “the” to refer to the limitation (e.g., “the widget”),this does not imply that the first claim covers only one of the feature,and this does not imply that the second claim covers only one of thefeature (e.g., “the widget” can cover both one widget and more than onewidget).

When an ordinal number (such as “first”, “second”, “third” and so on) isused as an adjective before a term, that ordinal number is used (unlessexpressly specified otherwise) merely to indicate a particular feature,such as to distinguish that particular feature from another feature thatis described by the same term or by a similar term. For example, a“first widget” may be so named merely to distinguish it from, e.g., a“second widget”. Thus, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers “first” and“second” before the term “widget” does not indicate any otherrelationship between the two widgets, and likewise does not indicate anyother characteristics of either or both widgets. For example, the mereusage of the ordinal numbers “first” and “second” before the term“widget” (1) does not indicate that either widget comes before or afterany other in order or location; (2) does not indicate that either widgetoccurs or acts before or after any other in time; and (3) does notindicate that either widget ranks above or below any other, as inimportance or quality. In addition, the mere usage of ordinal numbersdoes not define a numerical limit to the features identified with theordinal numbers. For example, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers“first” and “second” before the term “widget” does not indicate thatthere must be no more than two widgets.

When a single device, article or other product is described herein, morethan one device/article (whether or not they cooperate) mayalternatively be used in place of the single device/article that isdescribed. Accordingly, the functionality that is described as beingpossessed by a device may alternatively be possessed by more than onedevice/article (whether or not they cooperate).

Similarly, where more than one device, article or other product isdescribed herein (whether or not they cooperate), a singledevice/article may alternatively be used in place of the more than onedevice or article that is described. For example, a plurality ofcomputer-based devices may be substituted with a single computer-baseddevice. Accordingly, the various functionality that is described asbeing possessed by more than one device or article may alternatively bepossessed by a single device/article.

The functionality and/or the features of a single device that isdescribed may be alternatively embodied by one or more other deviceswhich are described but are not explicitly described as having suchfunctionality/features. Thus, other embodiments need not include thedescribed device itself, but rather can include the one or more otherdevices which would, in those other embodiments, have suchfunctionality/features.

Disclosed Examples and Terminology Are Not Limiting

Neither the Title (set forth at the beginning of the first page of thepresent application) nor the Abstract (set forth at the end of thepresent application) is to be taken as limiting in any way as the scopeof the disclosed invention(s). An Abstract has been included in thisapplication merely because an Abstract of not more than 150 words isrequired under 37 C.F.R. § 1.72(b).

The title of the present application and headings of sections providedin the present application are for convenience only, and are not to betaken as limiting the disclosure in any way.

Numerous embodiments are described in the present application, and arepresented for illustrative purposes only. The described embodiments arenot, and are not intended to be, limiting in any sense. The presentlydisclosed invention(s) are widely applicable to numerous embodiments, asis readily apparent from the disclosure. One of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that the disclosed invention(s) may be practiced withvarious modifications and alterations, such as structural, logical,software, and electrical modifications. Although particular features ofthe disclosed invention(s) may be described with reference to one ormore particular embodiments and/or drawings, it should be understoodthat such features are not limited to usage in the one or moreparticular embodiments or drawings with reference to which they aredescribed, unless expressly specified otherwise.

No embodiment of method steps or product elements described in thepresent application constitutes the invention claimed herein, or isessential to the invention claimed herein, or is coextensive with theinvention claimed herein, except where it is either expressly stated tobe so in this specification or expressly recited in a claim.

All words in every claim have the broadest scope of meaning they wouldhave been given by a person of ordinary skill in the art as of thepriority date. No term used in any claim is specially defined or limitedby this application except where expressly so stated either in thisspecification or in a claim.

The preambles of the claims that follow recite purposes, benefits andpossible uses of the claimed invention only and do not limit the claimedinvention.

The present disclosure is not a literal description of all embodimentsof the invention(s). Also, the present disclosure is not a listing offeatures of the invention(s) which must be present in all embodiments.

Devices that are described as in communication with each other need notbe in continuous communication with each other, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. On the contrary, such devices need only transmit toeach other as necessary or desirable, and may actually refrain fromexchanging data most of the time. For example, a machine incommunication with another machine via the Internet may not transmitdata to the other machine for long period of time (e.g. weeks at atime). In addition, devices that are in communication with each othermay communicate directly or indirectly through one or moreintermediaries.

A description of an embodiment with several components or features doesnot imply that all or even any of such components/features are required.On the contrary, a variety of optional components are described toillustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the presentinvention(s). Unless otherwise specified explicitly, nocomponent/feature is essential or required.

Although process steps, algorithms or the like may be described orclaimed in a particular sequential order, such processes may beconfigured to work in different orders. In other words, any sequence ororder of steps that may be explicitly described or claimed does notnecessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in thatorder. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in anyorder possible. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneouslydespite being described or implied as occurring non-simultaneously(e.g., because one step is described after the other step). Moreover,the illustration of a process by its depiction in a drawing does notimply that the illustrated process is exclusive of other variations andmodifications thereto, does not imply that the illustrated process orany of its steps are necessary to the invention(s), and does not implythat the illustrated process is preferred.

Although a process may be described as including a plurality of steps,that does not imply that all or any of the steps are preferred,essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of thedescribed invention(s) include other processes that omit some or all ofthe described steps. Unless otherwise specified explicitly, no step isessential or required.

Although a process may be described singly or without reference to otherproducts or methods, in an embodiment the process may interact withother products or methods. For example, such interaction may includelinking one business model to another business model. Such interactionmay be provided to enhance the flexibility or desirability of theprocess.

Although a product may be described as including a plurality ofcomponents, aspects, qualities, characteristics and/or features, thatdoes not indicate that any or all of the plurality are preferred,essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of thedescribed invention(s) include other products that omit some or all ofthe described plurality.

An enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does notimply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unlessexpressly specified otherwise. Likewise, an enumerated list of items(which may or may not be numbered) does not imply that any or all of theitems are comprehensive of any category, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. For example, the enumerated list “a computer, a laptop, aPDA” does not imply that any or all of the three items of that list aremutually exclusive and does not imply that any or all of the three itemsof that list are comprehensive of any category.

An enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does notimply that any or all of the items are equivalent to each other orreadily substituted for each other.

All embodiments are illustrative, and do not imply that the invention orany embodiments were made or performed, as the case may be.

Computing

It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that thevarious processes described herein may be implemented by, e.g.,appropriately programmed general purpose computers, special purposecomputers and computing devices. Typically a processor (e.g., one ormore microprocessors, one or more microcontrollers, one or more digitalsignal processors) will receive instructions (e.g., from a memory orlike device), and execute those instructions, thereby performing one ormore processes defined by those instructions. Instructions may beembodied in, e.g., one or more computer programs, one or more scripts.

A “processor” means one or more microprocessors, central processingunits (CPUs), computing devices, microcontrollers, digital signalprocessors, or like devices or any combination thereof, regardless ofthe architecture (e.g., chip-level multiprocessing/multi-core, RISC,CISC, Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages, pipeliningconfiguration, simultaneous multithreading).

Thus a description of a process is likewise a description of anapparatus for performing the process. The apparatus that performs theprocess can include, e.g., a processor and those input devices andoutput devices that are appropriate to perform the process.

Further, programs that implement such methods (as well as other types ofdata) may be stored and transmitted using a variety of media (e.g.,computer readable media) in a number of manners. In some embodiments,hard-wired circuitry or custom hardware may be used in place of, or incombination with, some or all of the software instructions that canimplement the processes of various embodiments. Thus, variouscombinations of hardware and software may be used instead of softwareonly.

The term “computer-readable medium” refers to any medium, a plurality ofthe same, or a combination of different media, that participate inproviding data (e.g., instructions, data structures) which may be readby a computer, a processor or a like device. Such a medium may take manyforms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media,and transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example, opticalor magnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatile media includedynamic random access memory (DRAM), which typically constitutes themain memory. Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wire andfiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupled tothe processor. Transmission media may include or convey acoustic waves,light waves and electromagnetic emissions, such as those generatedduring radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications.Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppydisk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, papertape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM,an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrierwave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computercan read.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carryingdata (e.g. sequences of instructions) to a processor. For example, datamay be (i) delivered from RAM to a processor; (ii) carried over awireless transmission medium; (iii) formatted and/or transmittedaccording to numerous formats, standards or protocols, such as Ethernet(or IEEE 802.3), SAP, ATP, Bluetooth□, and TCP/IP, TDMA, CDMA, and 3G;and/or (iv) encrypted to ensure privacy or prevent fraud in any of avariety of ways well known in the art.

Thus a description of a process is likewise a description of acomputer-readable medium storing a program for performing the process.The computer-readable medium can store (in any appropriate format) thoseprogram elements which are appropriate to perform the method.

Just as the description of various steps in a process does not indicatethat all the described steps are required, embodiments of an apparatusinclude a computer/computing device operable to perform some (but notnecessarily all) of the described process.

Likewise, just as the description of various steps in a process does notindicate that all the described steps are required, embodiments of acomputer-readable medium storing a program or data structure include acomputer-readable medium storing a program that, when executed, cancause a processor to perform some (but not necessarily all) of thedescribed process.

Where databases are described, it will be understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art that (i) alternative database structures to thosedescribed may be readily employed, and (ii) other memory structuresbesides databases may be readily employed. Any illustrations ordescriptions of any sample databases presented herein are illustrativearrangements for stored representations of information. Any number ofother arrangements may be employed besides those suggested by, e.g.,tables illustrated in drawings or elsewhere. Similarly, any illustratedentries of the databases represent exemplary information only; one ofordinary skill in the art will understand that the number and content ofthe entries can be different from those described herein. Further,despite any depiction of the databases as tables, other formats(including relational databases, object-based models and/or distributeddatabases) could be used to store and manipulate the data typesdescribed herein. Likewise, object methods or behaviors of a databasecan be used to implement various processes, such as the describedherein. In addition, the databases may, in a known manner, be storedlocally or remotely from a device which accesses data in such adatabase.

Various embodiments can be configured to work in a network environmentincluding a computer that is in communication (e.g., via acommunications network) with one or more devices. The computer maycommunicate with the devices directly or indirectly, via any wired orwireless medium (e.g. the Internet, LAN, WAN or Ethernet, Token Ring, atelephone line, a cable line, a radio channel, an optical communicationsline, commercial on-line service providers, bulletin board systems, asatellite communications link, a combination of any of the above). Eachof the devices may themselves comprise computers or other computingdevices, such as those based on the Intel® Pentium® or Centrino™processor, that are adapted to communicate with the computer. Any numberand type of devices may be in communication with the computer.

In an embodiment, a server computer or centralized authority may not benecessary or desirable. For example, the present invention may, in anembodiment, be practiced on one or more devices without a centralauthority. In such an embodiment, any functions described herein asperformed by the server computer or data described as stored on theserver computer may instead be performed by or stored on one or moresuch devices.

Where a process is described, in an embodiment the process may operatewithout any user intervention. In another embodiment, the processincludes some human intervention (e.g., a step is performed by or withthe assistance of a human).

Continuing Applications

The present disclosure provides, to one of ordinary skill in the art, anenabling description of several embodiments and/or inventions. Some ofthese embodiments and/or inventions may not be claimed in the presentapplication, but may nevertheless be claimed in one or more continuingapplications that claim the benefit of priority of the presentapplication.

Applicants intend to file additional applications to pursue patents forsubject matter that has been disclosed and enabled but not claimed inthe present application.

35 U.S.C. § 112, Paragraph 6

In a claim, a limitation of the claim which includes the phrase “meansfor” or the phrase “step for” means that 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 6,applies to that limitation.

In a claim, a limitation of the claim which does not include the phrase“means for” or the phrase “step for” means that 35 U.S.C. § 112,paragraph 6 does not apply to that limitation, regardless of whetherthat limitation recites a function without recitation of structure,material or acts for performing that function. For example, in a claim,the mere use of the phrase “step of” or the phrase “steps of” inreferring to one or more steps of the claim or of another claim does notmean that 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 6, applies to that step(s).

With respect to a means or a step for performing a specified function inaccordance with 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 6, the correspondingstructure, material or acts described in the specification, andequivalents thereof, may perform additional functions as well as thespecified function.

Computers, processors, computing devices and like products arestructures that can perform a wide variety of functions. Such productscan be operable to perform a specified function by executing one or moreprograms, such as a program stored in a memory device of that product orin a memory device which that product accesses. Unless expresslyspecified otherwise, such a program need not be based on any particularalgorithm, such as any particular algorithm that might be disclosed inthe present application. It is well known to one of ordinary skill inthe art that a specified function may be implemented via differentalgorithms, and any of a number of different algorithms would be a meredesign choice for carrying out the specified function.

Therefore, with respect to a means or a step for performing a specifiedfunction in accordance with 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 6, structurecorresponding to a specified function includes any product programmed toperform the specified function. Such structure includes programmedproducts which perform the function, regardless of whether such productis programmed with (i) a disclosed algorithm for performing thefunction, (ii) an algorithm that is similar to a disclosed algorithm, or(iii) a different algorithm for performing the function.

Where there is recited a means for performing a function hat is amethod, one structure for performing this method includes a computingdevice (e.g., a general purpose computer) that is programmed and/orconfigured with appropriate hardware to perform that function.

Also includes a computing device (e.g., a general purpose computer) thatis programmed and/or configured with appropriate hardware to performthat function via other algorithms as would be understood by one ofordinary skill in the art.

Disclaimer

Numerous references to a particular embodiment does not indicate adisclaimer or disavowal of additional, different embodiments, andsimilarly references to the description of embodiments which all includea particular feature does not indicate a disclaimer or disavowal ofembodiments which do not include that particular feature. A cleardisclaimer or disavowal in the present application shall be prefaced bythe phrase “does not include” or by the phrase “cannot perform”.

Incorporation By Reference

Any patent, patent application or other document referred to herein isincorporated by reference into this patent application as part of thepresent disclosure, but only for purposes of written description inaccordance with 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 1 and enablement inaccordance with 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 1, and should in no way beused to limit, define, or otherwise construe any term of the presentapplication where the present application, without such incorporation byreference, would not have failed to provide an ascertainable meaning,but rather would have allowed an ascertainable meaning for such term tobe provided. Thus, the person of ordinary skill in the art need not havebeen in any way limited by any embodiments provided in the reference

Any incorporation by reference does not, in and of itself, imply anyendorsement of, ratification of or acquiescence in any statements,opinions, arguments or characterizations contained in any incorporatedpatent, patent application or other document, unless explicitlyspecified otherwise in this patent application.

Prosecution History

In interpreting the present application (which includes the claims), oneof ordinary skill in the art shall refer to the prosecution history ofthe present application, but not to the prosecution history of any otherpatent or patent application, regardless of whether there are otherpatent applications that are considered related to the presentapplication, and regardless of whether there are other patentapplications that share a claim of priority with the presentapplication.

1. A method comprising: receiving a plurality of first representations,in which each first representation represents a respective report;receiving a second representation of a first user; determining at leastone group to which the first user belongs; determining at least one setof members of the at least one group; and filtering the plurality offirst representations based, at least in part, on the at least one setof members.
 2. The method of claim 1, in which each of the plurality offirst representations further represents a respective originator of thereport represented by the respective first representation.
 3. The methodof claim 2, in which filtering the plurality of first representationsincludes excluding from the plurality of first representations at leastone first representation that represents a report that was notoriginated by at least one member of the at least one set of members. 4.The method of claim 3, in which filtering the plurality of firstrepresentations includes excluding from the plurality of firstrepresentations at least one first representation that represents anegative report that was originated by at least one member of the atleast one set of members.
 5. The method of claim 1, in which each of theplurality of first representations further represents at least one of atarget and a target type and filtering includes excluding from theplurality of first representations at least one first representationthat represents at least one of an undesired target and an undesiredtarget type.
 6. The method of claim 1, in which at least one reportrepresented by at least one first representation of the plurality offirst representations includes at least one report on a service of aservice provider.
 7. The method of claim 6, in which the serviceincludes a delivery service.
 8. The method of claim 1, in which at leastone report represented by at least one first representation of theplurality of first representations includes at least one report on aproduct of a merchant.
 9. The method of claim 1, in which the at leastone group includes a social network of the first user and the set ofmembers includes the first user and at least one other member of thesocial network.
 10. The method of claim 9, in which the first userincludes a customer of at least one of a merchant and a serviceprovider.
 11. The method of claim 9, in which the first user includes atleast one of a merchant and a service provider.
 12. The method of claim1, in which at least one member of the at least one group includes areporter chosen by the first user.
 13. The method of claim 1, in whichthe at least one group includes at least one member having at least onedesired characteristic.
 14. The method of claim 13, in which the atleast one desired characteristic includes at least one of a profession,membership in an organization, and a geographic area.
 15. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising transmitting at least one thirdrepresentation of the filtered plurality of first representations. 16.The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the filteredplurality of first representations to the first user.
 17. The method ofclaim 16, in which presenting includes displaying the filtered pluralityof first representations through a video display.
 18. The method ofclaim 1, in the at least one second representation includes at least oneof a name, an email address, a login name, a mailing address, atelephone number, and a user identifier.
 19. The method of claim 1,further comprising making at least one recommendation to the first userbased, at least in part, on the filtered plurality of firstrepresentations.
 20. The method of claim 1, further comprising choosingat least one of a chosen product of a merchant and a chosen service of aservice provider based, at least in part, on the filtered plurality offirst representations.
 21. An apparatus comprising: a machine readablemedium having stored thereon a plurality of machine instructions forcontrolling at least one computer system to perform a method accordingto claim
 1. 22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising: aprocessor configured to execute at least one instruction of theplurality of machine instructions.